Dardanus

Dardanus is a 119-minute studio album of Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera, performed by a cast led by José van Dam, Michael Devlin, Veronique Dietschy, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Georges Gautier, Roger Soyer and Frederica von Stade with the Chorus and Orchestra of the National Theatre of the Paris Opera under the direction of Raymond Leppard. It was released in 1981. Background After the first staging of Dardanus in 1739, Rameau produced several revised versions of his opera, most notably in 1744. The performing score crafted by Leppard and used in the making of this album is a conflation of this latter version with that of the opera's première. Writing in the album's notes, Leppard asserted that he had "found a way to produce a version of the opera with a dramatic structure which makes theatrical sense in terms of the ebb and flow of tension and relaxation, while preserving most of the best music from both versions." Leppard's version omits Rameau's 1739 prologue, cuts some of his ballet sections and replaces his concluding danced chaconne with a chorus of praise for Venus and Love. The album was recorded following theatrical performances of Dardanus at the Paris Opera by a cast substantially the same as that of the recording. One of these performances was broadcast by French television, and, while not yet available on DVD, may be viewed online. Leppard has written a lengthy, tragi-comic account of the staging's many travails, which included a clowning violist, an incompetent organist, wire-flown singers squeaking with terror and a director and designer who abandoned the production midway through its run. He summed up Paris's Dardanus as one of the worst experiences of his conducting life, an agonizing episode that left a permanent scar on his psyche. Recording The album was recorded using analogue technology in November 1980 in the Église Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris.