Created in 1802 at the Opéra de Paris, Sémiramis by Charles-Simon Catel embodies, with a few other works of the day, the revival of the lyrical tragedy inherited from Gluck.
Hervé Niquet, conductor
Maria Ricarda Wesseling: Sémiramis
Gabrielle Philiponet: Azéma
Mathias Vidal: Arzace
Nicolas Courjal: Assur
Andrew Foster-Williams: Oroès
Nicolas Maire: Cédar
Le Concert Spirituel, choir and orchestra
Recorded the 25th of July 2011 at the Opéra-Berlioz Le Corum, Montpellier, during the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon
Tinted with exoticism, accentuating the pathetic of isolation as much as the pomp of ambitious finals, the work draws its reverence to the "Louis XVI" style to announce the great romantic opera, through the prism of what is known as neo-classicism. But the time was ripe for controversy between defenders and detractors of the new Conservatory, where Catel, then well established, had made so many enemies that the Opera House was shivering with revanchist hostility when the curtain rose on the first act...
Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel, which celebrates their 25th anniversary in 2012, continue their tireless work of rediscovering forgotten lyrical tragedies (cit for memory their Callirhoé by Destouches, Sémélé by Marais, Proserpine by Lully and Andromaque by Grétry) with this recording of Sémiramis by Catel made during the Festival de Radio France à Montpellier in 2011.
