Les Arts Florissants

William Christie

A Baroque "in camera" for the classical theatre. In spite of its sub-title of "tragédie biblique", David et Jonathas is by no means an oratorio. But if it seems to be more of an opera, this "psychological drama" is everything but a tragédie lyrique, as it was conceived and popularised by Lully. With a prologue totally integrated into the rest of the work, and a virtually immobile stage action, almost devoid of recitative, Charpentier here succeeds in creating a counter-proposition to the Lullian model. His contemporaries were not mistaken in acclaiming this grandiose masterpiece by the most "Italian" of French composer.This title was released for the first time in 1988.

Cast :
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie - Conductor
DAVID : Gérard Lesne, haute-contre
JONATHAS : Monique Zanetti, soprano
LA PYTHONISSE : Dominique Visse, haute-contre
JOABEL : Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, ténor
SAÜL : Jean-François Gardeil, basse
L'OMBRE DE SAMUEL / ACHIS : Bernard Deletré, basse
3 BERGERS : Véronique Gens, Cathy Missika, Anne-Julia Goddet (sopranos)
3 CAPTIFS : Shen Lin Chou, Véronique Gens, Bernard Loonen (soprano, soprano, ténor)
GUERRIER : Romain Bischoff (basse)
UN DE LA SUITE DE DAVID : Charles Daniels (haute-contre)
UN DU PEUPLE : Douglas Nasrawi (ténor)
UN DE LA SUITE DE JONATHAS : Michel Laplénie (baryton)