Unfolding over a prologue and four entrées, or acts, Rameau’s third opera, Les Indes Galantes, offers a series of five mini-dramas. Turks on an island in the Indian Ocean, Incas in Peru and native Americans in the New World are among the exotic peoples and locations visited.
The original production created for Bordeaux Opera was by all accounts an unbuttoned romp. Last night’s more demure concert performance went to the opposite extreme, with little acted out — the light comedy of the fourth entrée alone inspired a modicum of stage business. But the preparation for the production paid off in a fluent performance in which soloists and chorus could abandon scores. Though not period specialists, the Chorus of the Bordeaux National Opera could not be faulted.
Les Talens Lyriques and their director Christophe Rousset, on the other hand, have this music in their blood and delivered the ornamentation and notes inégales (a specialised French form of dotting) in style. Rameau’s score, ranging from thunderstorm and erupting volcano effects in the percussion to lilting airs and dances, was projected with all the grace and elegance the style demands. Resourceful percussionist François Garnier, equipped with thundersheet, wind simulator and various drums, was a one-man meteorological phenomenon.
A fine sextet of soloists covered 17 roles between them. Particularly worthy of mention were Amel Brahim-Djelloul, Hélène Le Corre, Benoît Arnould and Thomas Dolie but all six touched the heart with singing of beauty and stylish assurance.
