In the midst of the artistic debate between the German and Italian styles, as the Age of Enlightenment was lighting up its final fires during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, Johann Christian Bach (the youngest of the sons of the great Johann Sebastian) was presenting to Paris his Amadis de Gaule. Reduced and revised from a libretto of Quinault for Lully, this operatic work is shot through from one end to the other with the first frissons of the awakening Romanticism. Under the direction of Didier Talpain, a leading specialist in this repertoire, and played on period instruments, Amadis de Gaule demanded a solo team seasoned in the heroism of the tragédies lyriques in the Gluckian manner. In Pierre-Yves Pruvot, Hjördis Thébault, Philippe Do and Katia Vellétaz one finds on this recording a quartet remarkable for their range of colours and balance, all four equipped with exemplary diction and a shared dramatic sensibility which is both poignant and passionate.
