Rameau / Ensemble Les Surprises Rameau Chez La Pompadour CD

The famous Marquise de Pompadour, favorite of King Louis XV for nearly twenty years, reigned over the arts at court. Rameau, whom she particularly admired, was omnipresent. He received a specific commission for the Th??tre des Petits Appartements, where the Marquise herself sang in the midst of a troupe of amateurs and professionals: the result was Les Surprises de l'Amour, from which the ensemble Les Surprises takes it's name. Under the expert direction of Louis-No?l Bestion de Camboulas, the group presents here the very first recording of this ballet in it's original 1748 version, including the prologue entitled Le Retour d'Astr?e, and couples it with another commission for one of the court's annual residences at Fontainebleau: Les Sybarites (1753), an acte de ballet whose principal couple is reminiscent of the King himself and his favorite. A first-rate vocal line-up brings these two works back to life: Marie Perbost, Eug?nie Lefebvre, Jehanne Amzal, Cl?ment Debieuvre, David Witczak, Philippe Est?phe.