Search - Jean-Fery Rebel, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Michi Gaigg :: Jean-Féry Rebel: Les Élémens; Rameau: Castor et Pollux [Hybrid SACD]

FANTASTICLLY BIZARRE!

J. Poss | Pahrump, Nevada | 08/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WOW! What a performance of the bizarre Rebel masterpiece, "Les Elemens" and Rameau's "Castor et Pollux" suite. This group's passion for the music and the joy they get from it really comes through here. Their phasing shapes and enhances the musical lines beautifully. The first movement called "La Cahos" depicts the formation of the universe out of chaos. "Las Cahos" is the first free orchestral composition in the history of music! Here is an except from the notes of the recording of Rebel "Les Elemens", "Rebel begins the introduction to 'Les Elemens' with a cord that must have been ear splitting for contemporary listeners. All the tones from the initial key are played at the same time in a polyphonic cluster of dissonances."



I listened to the SACD surround layer and the recording is superb. The soundscape was extremely life-like with a nice amount of reverberation and ambiance to give this historical instrument group a lush sound. There are other recordings of Rebel's Les Elemens by The Academy of Ancient Music, Musica Antiqua Köln and Les Musiciens du Louvre and they are all very good and each is very different, but none of them have the beauty and realism of Super Audio technology. This is a must have SACD."

Wow, indeed

Mithradates | Seattle, WA USA | 11/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I guess I need to upgrade my system to fully appreciate the SACD, but this hybrid plays very well on an old-style CD player. I bought this for Rameau's "Castor & Pollux" suite, but Rebel's "Les Elemens" turns out to be a jaw-dropping, marvelously grotesque bonus. I've played the disc seven times in four days, and I'm not tired of it yet."