Opera Lafayette - CD Recordings

Opera Lafayette records for the world's leading classical music label Naxos. Its discography includes Rebel and Francoeur's Zélindor, roi des Sylphes, Lully's Armide, Rameau Operatic Arias for Haute-Contre with tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Oedipe à Colone by Sacchini, and Orphée et Euridice by Gluck. Opera Lafayette has recorded Monsigny's Le Déserteur for release in 2010.

"Here is another welcome solo disc celebrating the repertoire of a great singer from the past....(Fouchécourt) superbly captures other qualities noted by the author (Louis de Cahusac) in Jélyotte's singing: 'le goût, la précision, l’expression et la légèreté du chant’….The disc offers a representative sample of Rameau’s writing for tenor, drawing on the tragédies lyriques as well as the lighter, pastoral-type pieces known as ballets….Take Dardanus's prison scene, sung here as a real expression of despair, or the love songs of Zoroastre and Zaïs, different in character yet here equally touching, or Neptune's florid ariette (Naïs) designed to temper the north winds, dispatched by Fouchécourt with panache. The period-instrument orchestra of the Washington-based Opera Lafayette, which in its decade-long existence has done so much to further the cause of 18th-century French opera, provides exemplary support under Ryan Brown ..."
OPERA, January 2008 (Rameau's Operatic Arias for Haute-Contre)

"This is a major issue, one that does more than justice to one of the most important neglected operatic works of the 18^th century. As such, it is an obligatory addition to the library of anyone interested in the genre."
Fanfare, March/April 2007 (Sacchini's Oedipe à Colone)

"It is difficult to imagine a better interpretation...splendid playing on period instruments...a 'must-buy'."
Music Web-International, November 2006 (Sacchini's Oedipe à Colone)

"...beautifully shades the details of the tempi and dynamics. This magically produces the most transparent sort of sound picture and singing that is exciting and idiomatic at the same time...a reference recording of the Paris version."
Das Opernglas, June 2005 (Gluck's Orphée et Euridice)

"as hypnotic a 90 minutes as you can hope for...."
The London Observer, April 2005 (Gluck's Orphée et Euridice)

Zélindor, roi des Sylphes

The Tragedy of Armide

Rameau Operatic Arias
for Haute-Contre
Rameau Operatic Arias for Haute-Contre

Oedipe à Colone
Opera Lafayette Recording of Sacchini's Oedipe à Colone

Orphée et Euridice
Opera Lafayette Recording of Gluck's Orphée et Euridice