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Rameau - Tristes apprêts

Sara Mohr-Pietsch traces musical connections with Jean-Philippe Rameau's 'Tristes apprêts', the exquisite aria from his 1737 opera Castor et Pollux.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch traces musical connections with Jean-Philippe Rameau's 'Tristes apprêts', the exquisite aria from his 1737 opera Castor et Pollux. In its time, the opera was revolutionary, refreshing French opera with influences from Italy, and we are taken on an exploration of music that extends to Germany, Austria and England, as well as the traditions of India.

The aria's extraordinary scoring for bassoon is reflected in pieces by Rossini and Elgar, and its theme of melancholy in music by Gluck and Monteverdi. And its bittersweet major-key setting is echoed in works by Schubert and Mahler.

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16 days left to listen

1 hour, 29 minutes

Last on

Sun 28 Jun 202613:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    The Arts and the Hours (Les Boréades)

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson. Music Arranger: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • Debussy & Rameau.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 17.

  • John Dowland

    Pavane Lachrimae Antiquae

    Performer: Skip Sempé. Orchestra: Capriccio Stravagante.
    • Paradizo.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Lamento della ninfa - Amor, diceo (Madrigals of War and Love, Book VIII)

    Performer: Christina Pluhar. Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata. Singer: Núria Rial.
    • Erato.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Cello Suite no.1 (Op.72): III Lamento

    Performer: Truls Mørk.
    • Erato.

  • Jasdeep Singh Degun

    Lament (from Orpheus)

    Performer: Simeon Walker. Performer: Ian Burdge. Performer: Sally Herbert.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Scherza infida (Ariodante)

    Performer: Marc Minkowski. Performer: Marc Minkowski. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre.
    • DG Archive.

  • Gioachino Rossini

    Bassoon Concerto: mov. 3

    Performer: Karen Geoghegan. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda.
    • Chandos.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Bassoon Concerto in C major RV479: III Allegro

    Performer: Sophie Dervaux. Ensemble: La Folia Barockorchester.
    • Berlin Classics.

  • Edward Elgar

    Romance for Bassoon in D minor op.62

    Performer: Graham Sheen. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Davis.
    • Apex.

  • Anna Meredith

    Axeman

    Performer: John Orford.
    • NMC.

  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Che faro senza Euridice? (aria from Orpheus and Euridice)

    Singer: Philippe Jaroussky. Ensemble: I Barocchisti. Director: Diego Fasolis.
    • Erato.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu Op.90 no.3 in G flat major

    Performer: Krystian Zimerman.
    • DG.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.5: IV. Adagietto (sehr langsam)

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Tristes apprets (Telaïre's lament from Castor e Pollux Act 1)

    Singer: Nadine Koutcher. Ensemble: MusicAeterna. Conductor: Teodor Currentzis.
    • Sony.

  • Edvard Grieg

    Anitra's Dance (Peer Gynt Suite No 1, Op 46)

    Conductor: Sakari Oramo. Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
    • ERATO.

Broadcast

  • Sun 28 Jun 202613:30
    BBC Radio 3