Les Talens Lyriques
The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was founded in 1991.
In choosing this name, the title of a work by Rameau, Christophe Rousset demonstrated
his fondness for the repertoire of the eighteenth century, to whose discovery
and diffusion he makes a particularly felicitous contribution, without this
in any sense lessening his interest in the composers of the preceding century.
The repertoire of Les Talens Lyriques ranges from Monteverdi (L'incoronazione
di Poppea, Eighth Book of madrigals) and Cavalli (La Didone) to Handel (Scipione,
Riccardo Primo, Rinaldo, Admeto, Giulio Cesare, Serse, Tamerlano, Alcina), Lully
(Persée, Roland), Cimarosa (Il mercato di malmantile, Il matrimonio segreto),
Traetta (Antigona, Ippolito ed Aricia), Jommelli (Armida abbandonata), Martín
y Soler (La capricciosa corretta) and Mozart (Mitridate, re di Ponto ) .
The attention given to opera is paralleled by exploration of other forms of
French music of the same period: the motet (Dumont, Daniélis), the cantata
(Clérambault, Brossard, Montéclair), the air de cour (Dumont,
Lambert, de La Barre).
In order to breathe new life into these works, Christophe Rousset surrounds
himself with singers and instrumentalists who for the most part belong to the
'young Baroque generation'. His regular collaboration with these artists also
offers the opportunity for the necessary research into the specific style of
the sacred or secular music of the period.
The foundation of Les Talens Lyriques is the result of a passion for opera and
vocal art. As a harpsichordist, Christophe Rousset already insisted on the necessity
of 'treating the instrument like the voice'. Furthermore, an approach involving
stage performance is in his view an indispensable part of musical interpretation,
which has led him to express his approach in collaboration with such producers
as Jean-Marie Villégier, Philippe Lénaël, Jean-Claude Berutti,
Pierre Audi, Jean-Pierre Vincent, Lindsay Kemp, Marco Arturo Marelli, Eric Vigner,
and Ludovic Lagarde.
In this fashion Christophe Rousset and his ensemble have devoted themselves
to shedding light on a whole chapter in the history of the French and Italian
heritage, following the Paris-Naples axis which ran all through the eighteenth
century.
Les Talens Lyriques have released recordings for Erato, Fnac Music, Auvidis,
and currently record for the labels Decca (Universal Music) and Naïve.
They recorded the music for the soundtrack of the film Farinelli il Castrato.
Les Talens Lyriques, resident in Montpellier, receive support from the Communauté
d'Agglomération de Montpellier and the Direction Régionale des
Affaires Culturelles de Languedoc-Roussillon -Ministère de la Culture
et de la Communication.
Les Talens Lyriques is a member of FEVIS, the Fédération des Ensembles
Vocaux et Instrumentaux Spécialisés. The ensemble was awarded
the Victoire de la Musique Classique in 2001.
