Passion

Description

Véronique Gens here marks her grand return to Baroque music and to Lully, who defined the early part of her career. This program features arias by the famous composer of Louis XIV, taken from Atys, Persée, Alceste, Proserpine, Le Triomphe de l'Amour... but also by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Médée), Henry Desmarets, and Pascal Collasse. Well-known pages, some rare, even previously unpublished, share the common thread of powerful women who love but are not loved: dark passions, bitter laments, jealousy, vengeance—these highly dramatic roles that Véronique Gens embodies with all the charisma that has made her reputation. This recording also arose from the encounter with the young ensemble Les Surprises, founded and directed by Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas. Together they conceived this program, which mixes arias, dances, and choruses, in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.