Inner Brilliance Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau - recommended by GERALD FENECH 'Rousset and his team give absolutely flawless performances, brimming with zestful enthusiasm and razor-sharp precision, and in such able hands how can Rameau's star not be one of the brightest in the baroque firmament?'

When Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) embarked on the writing of Pygmalion in 1748, he was by that time the composer par excellence not only of the Royal Court, but of the whole of France. In February of that year the composer had a somewhat mixed success with Zais, a heroic ballet in a prologue and four Acts, but this did not deter the new directors of the Academy of Music from commissioning Rameau to write an acte de ballet with the aim of replenishing the coffers of the establishment. It is believed that the composer wrote Pygmalion in less than eight days, and even if this timeframe seems very short, it is quite possible that this work was indeed composed very quickly, probably between June and July 1748...

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU

VIENNA

AUSTRIA