ABSTRACT
Until the 1960s recordings devoted to Rameau’s choral and operatic works remained few and far between, perhaps because performers were not sufficiently versed in the conventions of this idiosyncratic genre. Unlike his keyboard and chamber music, which seemed to enjoy a little more favour, Rameau’s operas were at the time more often offered to the public in suites of orchestral pieces as, for instance, from Les Fêtes d’Hébé recorded by Jean Allain in 1956 or from Dardanus by Charles Munch in 1963. While the bicentenary of the composer’s death in 1964 triggered a genuine interest in his works on disc, it was the rediscovery of Baroque repertoire performed on period instruments from the 1970s onwards that stimulated increasing interest in his music. From then on, thanks to the efforts of historically informed musicians, Rameau’s discography has gradually expanded, with a marked enlargement on the occasion of the tercentenary of his birth in 1983.
