Below are a few extracts from the interview:
One of the most versatile musicians of today, Christophe Rousset divides his time between such varied activities as conducting, researching new scores to perform and playing the harpsichord. (…)
This season, Rousset has conducted productions of Handel's Semele in Brussels and Paris, and he will bring the Paris cast to London's Barbican on Thursday for a concert performance. The soloists include Danielle de Niese and Vivica Genaux, and it promises to be a superb occasion. I took the opportunity to catch up with Rousset on the eve of that appearance to ask him about the piece, as well as his plans for the twentieth anniversary of Les Talens Lyriques next season.
Handel’s Semele
We begin with Semele. Rousset has commented on the 'sumptuous beauty' of the score. Does he read this sensuality as a subversion of the oratorio genre (which Handel was forced to associate with the piece), or as a successful attempt to blend aspects of both opera and oratorio? 'Surely if Handel calls Semele an oratorio, it is not in the sense of sacred music,' Rousset explains. 'To my mind, it is less of a subversion but more an attempt to blend opera to the new pattern which he felt compelled to adopt - an oratorio in the sense of a concert version of an opera. In reality, Congreve's libretto was meant to have been an opera. Only the choruses were added. And with the choruses and their large, almost Germanic architectural style, Handel was inspired by his own sacred music. The sensuality of Semele's music is a fact but this sacred music is not more controversial than sacred images in Rome such as Bernini's Ecstasy of Santa Teresa!'
Les Talens Lyriques
Next season sees the twentieth anniversary of Les Talens Lyriques. What was his goal when he established the group, and has he achieved what he hoped to? 'My goal in setting up Les Talens Lyriques was to rediscover the forgotten masterpieces of composers who wrote at the same time as Haendel and Mozart or to revisit the classics of composers such as Monteverdi and Cavalli. Les Talens Lyriques have achieved more than I ever hoped for in exploring so much undiscovered music. And having Decca publish CD's like Mondonville, Traetta or Leo, and most recently Louis Couperin and Froberger's keyboard music on the Aparte Label, was a real personal victory.'
His dreams and plans for the future
As a great musical archaeologist, what other unknown pieces would he like to perform? 'That's a secret!' he laughs. 'I won't tell you, but suffice to say that I would love to do more Traetta and Jomelli. Of all the lost operas, I would love to find one of Monteverdi's lost opera scores – actually not just one, but all of them! For example, it would be amazing to find Monteverdi's Ariana. We are aware of this opera because of the one famous surviving aria. Or alternatively Andromeda.
'I found the original manuscript for Lully's Bellérophon in an antiquarian bookshop. The hand-written manuscript dates back to the premiere in 1679. I later discovered a second edition from 1701. It's fascinating being able to consult the original manuscripts and later editions for how they vary. Maybe one day I will be lucky and find a completely lost work…'
What other ambitions does he have for the future? 'An absolute dream would be to be free to programme any work or opera. At the moment, I am mostly asked to conduct specific projects but it would be amazing to have carte blanche to produce anything. There are so many surprise rabbits I have stored up in my magician's hat. A major ambition is to explore more the music from the nineteenth century. The single aria of Les Troyens by Berlioz, which we recorded with Veronique Gens as part of the second Tragediennes disc on Virgin Classics, has given me a flavour for this repertoire. It's also convinced me that it isn't beyond the reach of a mere harpsichord player. We already have more plans to record more Berlioz and his contemporaries.'
By Dominic McHugh
The full interview is available on the MusicalCriticism website: there Christophe Rousset also talks about his musical education or other Naïve artists for instance.
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