More Musickal Posting

Terry Teachout has an interesting review of a revival of Rameau's 1745 opera Platee.

I've never heard this work, but I've always enjoyed the Rameau that I do know. I don't for an instant pretend to have any expertice on the subject of the French Baroque, but I dimly remember reading about the range of dramatic emotion Rameau injected into opera, as well as his bold harmonic structures. I do know from personal experience that his keyboard works translate better to the piano than do those of Couperin or Lully, FWIW.

I have a great recording of Rameau's Dardanus Suite. I also have a book of his Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin, in which I occassionally dabble. In fact, I was fiddling around with No. 11 - la poule ("the hen")- the other day when my oldest girl commented on it. The piece has a distinct "clucking" feature specifically meant to imitate a chicken and she remarked that it sounded very "fussy."

Aaaanyway, I digress. I really wanted to bring up the link just for drooling purposes. [Insert Homer Simpson-like sounds o' slobber.]