Les Arts Florissants:Christie - RAMEAU: In Convertendo Dominus

Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon, where he probably composed his few surviving motets, including the Grand Motet 'In Convertendo', here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, which anticipates Rameau's orchestration in his later operatic works. The wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) 'Euntes ibant et flebant' (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary, J. S. Bach. In addition to a full performance of 'In Convertendo', this DVD presents some of Rameau's key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary, 'The Real Rameau', which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music, dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all the arts and, indeed, to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man, ill-suited to courtly surroundings, his work was described by Berlioz as 'one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music'.