Today, so many years after being composed, we are still struck with the astonishing beauty and dramatic power of so much of Rameau’s music. The heart-stopping vocal quartet in the third entrée can still bring tears to a listener’s eyes, and the extended scene at the end of the second entrée, in which a volcano erupts, is one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Baroque opera.
But the complexity of the music, its richness of detail, and its unexpected twists and turns are still surprising today.
Here is pianist Grigory Sokolov to play some of this music for you:
