William Christie
Long a leading figure in the early music performance movement,
William Christie has been especially influential in restoring opera
and French music to their rightful places in the Baroque repertory.
He is the harpsichordist and leader of the ensemble Les Arts
Florissants. Christie was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1944, and
studied piano and organ as a young man. He attended Harvard,
graduating with an art history degree and switching to music only
for graduate study at the Yale School of Music. His teacher there
was the pioneering harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, best known for
his rediscovery and thorough exploration of the sonatas of Domenico
Scarlatti. Christie moved to France in 1971; eventually he not only
became a French citizen, but also was named a member of the Legion
of Honor. Many early music performers have done stints in the
contemporary-music world (and vice versa); between 1971 and 1975,
as a member of the Five Centuries Ensemble, Christie participated
in premieres of work by such notables as Luciano Berio and Morton
Feldman. Between 1976 and 1980 he played keyboards for the early
music group Concerto Vocale, led by René Jacobs. In 1979, Christie
founded Les Arts Florissants, an ensemble devoted to French,
English, and Italian music of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The group has done much to revive the difficult genre of
French Baroque opera, with its arcane declamatory style; working
with leading stage designers and choreographers, Christie has had
special success with the operas of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and
Jean-Philippe Rameau, rightful mainstays of the operatic repertory
in their own times but almost forgotten since then. Since 1994,
Christie and Les Arts Florissants have recorded for the major
French label Erato, and the contract was renewed in 1999. That year
saw the release of the Les Arts Florissants recording of
Monteverdi's magnificent Vespro della Beata Vergine (the Vespers of
1610), and recordings of Mozart, Caldara, Lully and other composers
were in the works. Similar artists
Albums
53
albums sorted by Most acclaimed
£22.49
£16.99
Classical - Released October 21, 2013 | Les Arts Florissants
Hi-Res
Booklet
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4F de Télérama -
Hi-Res Audio
For the inauguration of their own label, William Christie and his period ensemble Les Arts Florissants give George Frideric Handel's 1744 oratorio Belshazzar a brilliant performance in meticulous Baroque style, yet sacrifice none of the work's excitement. The story from the Book of Daniel of the defeat of Belshazzar by Cyrus the Great and the end of the Jewish captivity in Babylon is presented in Handel's characteristic heroic manner. Like the composer's masterpiece Messiah, which preceded it by three years, Belshazzar offers dramatic recitatives, moving arias, and vigorous choruses that are almost as thrilling and satisfying, but for the work's comparative unfamiliarity. Christie's aim is to make the public better acquainted with Baroque masterpieces, and this initial offering is an impressive beginning for the edition. Featuring Rosemary Joshua as Nitocris, countertenor Iestyn Davies as Daniel, and Allan Clayton as Belshazzar, the performance boasts some of the finest Handel vocalists around, and the choir is marvelously agile and clear in its diction, so the singing is superb. Add to this the authentic instrumentation and masterful playing of the group, and Christie's imaginative conducting, which never fails to surprise, and this may be the most stimulating and convincing version of Belshazzar available.
£4.29
Sacred Oratorios - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
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Diapason d'or -
Choc de Classica
£4.29
Full Operas - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
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5 de Diapason -
4 étoiles de Classica
£13.19
£9.19
Classical - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Hi-Res
Booklet
Distinctions
Diapason d'or -
Choc de Classica
With this anthology of airs sérieux and airs à boire of the Grand Siècle, Les Arts Florissants launches a new series on harmonia mundi. We may listen to the tracks on this disc as contemporaries turned the pages of successful collections of songs alternating between invocations to Bacchus and invitations to love. Around William Christie at the harpsichord and his musicians, five singers offer multiple combinations of close-knit voices. From the intimacy of the salons to the liveliness of court banquets, these airs, models of refined skill, make light of the paradoxes of our hearts – for as an air by Lambert tells us: ‘Though Love creates all my grief, / I wish to love and to die loving.’ (Editor's Note)
£4.29
Sacred Vocal Music - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
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5 de Diapason -
4 étoiles de Classica
£4.29
Cantatas (secular) - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
Distinctions
Diapason d'or -
4 étoiles de Classica
£4.29
Sacred Oratorios - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
Distinctions
Diapason d'or -
4 étoiles de Classica
£13.19
£9.19
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released September 22, 2017 | harmonia mundi
Hi-Res
Booklet
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4 étoiles de Classica
The six young singers of the Academy of Le Jardin des Voix, selected from several hundred candidates, offer us a musical journey through some of the finest pieces in the Italian repertory, from a Banchieri madrigal to Haydn’s Orlando paladino. Thanks to an outstanding training programme and the musical values transmitted by William Christie and Paul Agnew, here is a chance to discover both some splendid vocal gems and a group of new performers who honour them with talent, grace and humour. Sheer delight! © harmonia mundi
£16.99
Opera - Released October 17, 2012 | Warner Classics International
Distinctions
4 étoiles de Classica
It is tempting to say William Christie and Les Arts Florissants perform Rameau's opera Zoroastre the exact way the composer imagined it. Indeed, there are many riches in this performance: impeccable singing, a magnificent chorus, and an orchestra that perfectly captures the opulent beauties and complexities of French Baroque. A late work, Zoroastre may lack the consistent brilliance of Rameau's masterpiece Castor et Pollux, but this composition's daring formal conception, which presages the fluidity of late nineteenth century opera, richly compensates any perceived absence of structural balance. The story, centering on Zoroastre's struggle to save his beloved Amelite from the evil Abramanr, contains Masonic references. Was Rameau a Mason? Scholars cannot answer that question. True, Zoroastre is about the struggle between good and evil symbolized, respectively, by light and darkness, but what fascinates the listener is not the Masonic story, but Rameau's unique ability to represent archetypal dichotomies in purely musical terms by relying on musical symbolism. Thus, in Act IV, Rameau's musical representation of sinister forces directly appeals to the listener's intuition. Indeed, the sheer variety of dark tones, along with astonishing outbursts of sheer dramatic power, bespeak Rameau's expressive genius, which reveals the unfathomable essence of evil in ways that language cannot emulate. Rameau's descriptions of elevated spiritual states, symbolized by light, are even more astonishing as demonstrated by "O lumiere vive et pure," sung by Zoroastre and the chorus in Act III. Here, as well as in the "Tout se ranime," Zorastre's duet with Amelite, the musicians reach the pinnacle of their art: with faultless phrasing, breathtaking expressive intensity, and impeccable dramatic presence, the vocal soloists capture the essence of Rameau's music. The superb orchestra plays with the compellingly primal immediacy of a living voice.
£4.49
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released October 28, 1997 | Warner Classics International
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The Qobuz Ideal Discography
£4.49
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released April 17, 2012 | Erato Disques - WMI
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The Qobuz Ideal Discography
£4.29
Opera - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
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Choc de Classica
£3.00£4.29
Chamber Music - Released March 6, 2012 | harmonia mundi
Distinctions
The Qobuz Ideal Discography
£4.29
Sacred Vocal Music - Released June 5, 2003 | harmonia mundi
Distinctions
Choc de Classica
£4.29
Cantatas (sacred) - Released April 1, 2016 | harmonia mundi
Booklet
Distinctions
4 étoiles de Classica
£19.79
£13.79
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released March 9, 2018 | harmonia mundi
Hi-Res
Booklet
£16.99
Opera - Released May 29, 2006 | Warner Classics International
£4.49
Classical - Released August 1, 2001 | Warner Classics International
£20.49
Opera - Released September 12, 2006 | Warner Classics International
£4.49
Opera - Released January 1, 1995 | Warner Classics International
