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Notes & Reviews:
The numerous instrumental pieces or symphonies found in the dramatic works of Rameau are remarkably effective when played on the harpsichord. The composer himself, with his transcription of Les Indes Galantes, invited other musicians to continue this tradition. Seizing on the formidable array of material available in his operas, including Platée, Dardanus and Les Paladins, Pierre Hantaï and Skip Sempé take obvious pleasure in revealing, through their two harpsichords, the immense richness of this music, which is full of surprises and imagination.
BBC Music Magazine
Hantaï's playing is wonderfully responsive to the wealth of expressive nuance.
Gramophone
Skip Sempé is known for a love of spontaneity, which informs his solo performances and enlivens the duos.
BBC Music Magazine, August 2012
The harpsichord sound is beautifully captured and the playing is beyond reproach. While there is much drama in Hantai and Sempe's playing, it might be best to take this magnificent collection a little at a time.
The Observer, August 2012
It shouldn't really work to reduce Rameau's richly orchestrated dances to a pair of keyboards. Yet Hantaï and Sempé are so vivacious in their rhythms and so freewheeling in their improvisatory style, often filling in Rameau's outline with dazzling decoration, that this disc is huge fun.
American Record Guide, January/February 2013
There are many delightful and poignant moments on this recording. The duo plays with joyous grandeur in the overture to Les Indes Galantes. In the Menuets en Rondeau (Zoroastre, 1749) they evoke the flowing delicacy of the dance. I am very familiar with both harpsichordists, yet I could not always tell who was playing which part. This is, of course, a positive sign. The sounds of the two harpsichords merge as music and dance merge with one another. The two harpsichordists could not be more different, but they bring complementary abilities to this project. Hantai has developed a rigorous and acutely creative compositional mind, well-trained by years spent in the company of JS Bach's music. Sempe brings a generous, spacious style of keyboard improvisation and a disarming openness that leaves the door open for ecstatic experience through music. I'm not trying to oversimplify; it's never as cut and dried as Apollo vs. Dionysius, but when you hear this recording at the very least you will know something truly divine is going on.
Recording information: théâtre d'Arras (12/2011).
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Works Details
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Ouverture - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 4 min. 40 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Musette en rondeau - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 36 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Menuets - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 28 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Tambourins - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 33 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Platée :: Musette - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 48 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1745
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Air pour les Polonais - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 36 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Air pour les Esclaves africains - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 28 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Zoroastre :: Menuet en rondeau - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 40 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1749
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Dardanus :: Chaconne - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 4 min. 12 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Zoroastre (Pieces de clavecin) :: Sarabande - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 3 min. 26 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1749
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Paladins :: Air très gay - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 45 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Ballet
- Written: 1760
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Gavotte - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 40 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Air pour les Bostangis - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 28 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Pygmalion :: Ouverture - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 5 min. 6 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Ballet
- Written: 1748
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Hippolyte et Aricie :: Menuet - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 2 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1733
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : L'Agaçante, for harpsichord, violin & viol (Pièces de clavecin en concerts) - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 35 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1741
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Dardanus :: Prélude - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 6 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Fêtes d'Hébél (Pieces de clavecin) :: Tambourins en rondeau - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 15 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Ballet
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Platée :: Préludes dans le goût de la vièle - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 3 min. 33 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1745
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : La Pantomime, for harpsichord, violin & viol (Pièces de clavecin en concerts) - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 4 min. 31 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1741
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : L'indiscrète, for harpsichord, violin & viol (Pièces de clavecin en concerts) - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 24 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1741
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Dardanus :: Air tendre en duo - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 3 min. sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes (Pieces de clavecin) :: Les Sauvages - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 17 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : La Timide, for harpsichord, violin & viol (Pièces de clavecin en concerts) - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 3 min. 3 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1741
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Dardanus :: Tambourins - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 55 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Dardanus :: Prélude - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 40 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Opera/Operetta
- Written: 1739
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Indes galantes :: Chaconne - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 5 min. 54 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1735
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : Les Paladins :: Gavotte un peu lente - Performers: Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord); Skip Sempe (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 1 min. 8 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Form: Ballet
- Written: 1760
Rameau, Jean-Philippe : La Marais, for harpsichord, violin & viol (Pièces de clavecin en concerts) - Performers: Skip Sempe (Harpsichord); Pierre Hantaï (Harpsichord)
- Running Time: 2 min. 41 sec.
- Period Time: Baroque
- Written: 1741
