This music, performed by one of today’s premier period-instrument orchestras, gives us a hint of what a gifted 17th-century composer could do with nearly unlimited resources and probably the finest instrumental ensemble in Europe. Lully was fortunate to work for a king who loved and generously supported music, and who financed the famous and permanent in-house “King’s Band of 24 Violins”–to which could be added any number of other instruments, from winds to percussion to brass to plucked strings. Lully’s working association with Molière produced revolutionary changes in stage music during the 1670s, and this recording provides a generous musical feast drawn from the Molière/Lully collaboration (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme), as well as Lully’s suite from his opera Alceste and a suitably royal set of dances (Le Divertissement Royal). Listening to this thoroughly delightful music–perfectly complemented in warm, resonant sound–makes you think of all kinds of descriptive words, the kind that cause editors to reach for their pencils (or delete keys), but that writers always try to sneak through. And since I’m the editor, I’ll go ahead and say it: This is lovely, lissome, luscious Lully.
