Edwin Crossley-Mercer reviews
Lully: Isis
Chœur de Chambre de Namur; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset (Aparté)
A radiant restoration of Lully’s Isis
'Rousset pushes performers to their dramatic limits which highlights their flawless execution'
Judith Van Wanroij sings Lully's Alceste
Loosely based on Euripides’s drama Alcestis, Lully’s tragédie en musique spans the gamut of human emotion, from high tragedy to frothy comedy. Love in its many guises – passionate, flirtatious, noble and selfless – is the driving force of the opera. The work’s ultimate hero is Alcide (Hercules), a thinly disguised allusion to Louis XIV, whom Lully celebrates in the fawning Prologue and with bellicose and triumphant music.