Amadis de Gaule

Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) was the youngest son of J S Bach and Anna Magdalena and came to be known as "The English Bach" after he settled in London in 1762. After C P E Bach he was probably the most musically gifted of his father's children, being accomplished in all aspects of music, with his list of compositions including over 40 symphonies, many concertos, chamber works, solo keyboard sonatas, religious works and 11 operas, of which Adamis de Gaule (1779) was his final offering. Although Helmuth Rilling recorded the work in 1990, this recording marks the premier recording of the complete work in French, the language it was originally composed in, you even get alternative versions of two of the pieces, and sounds far better than the Rilling, which if my memory serves me, sounds dull in comparison.Quinault based his Libretto on an original Spanish tale of chivalrous love and magic, Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote as a parody of the story, with the order for the libretto to be produced coming from Louis XIV. It tells of the relationship between Amadis, here sung by the tenor Philippe Do, who is persecuted by the malevolent wizard Arcalaús, sung by the baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot, and Oriane, sung by the soprano Katia Velletaz. The music is wonderful and this production brings out every nuance of the score, the composer has been accused of being "more decadent" in his compositional style than his more famous sibling, Carl Philip Emanuel, all I know is that I have not heard anything quite like this from a member of the Bach family, and I enjoyed it greatly. The information on the back of the book tells us that the Paris Opera invited the composer to compose an opera that would bypass the antagonism between the supporters of Gluck and Piccinni, and although somewhat conservative in style, this opera certainly compares well with some of Gluck's music.The production is excellent and cannot be faulted; the largely French cast give some wonderfully characterful performances which are supported well by the Czech chorus and ensemble all under the expert direction of Didier Talpain. The CDs are presented either end of a sumptuous 140 page hardback book, this is the only recording I know of that comes with both a catalogue number and an ISBN. The essays are excellent and give great insight into the composer, the music and the era and circumstances for which the opera was composed, as well as full texts and translations.If I have any complaints about this production it is that it is a limited edition, my copy is numbered as 1594 of 3000, and this means that too few people will be able to enjoy this wonderful music! My advice is to hurry up and buy it while you can as you will be sorry if you miss out!