Diapason d’Or
July/August 2020
Nouveauté

David Witczak, Adriána Kalafszky, Katia Velletaz, Judith van Wanroij, Tassis Christoyannis, Clément Debieuvre, Thomas Dolié, David Witzcak, Zachary Wilder, Chantal Santon Jeffery

Orfeo Orchestra, Purcell Choir, György Vashegyi

In Jephté by Michel Pignolet de Montclair, Gyrgy Vashegyi directs with style and energy another riveting account of a neglected French Baroque opera. The work, based on the Biblical tale of a conquering general obliged, by a sacred vow, to sacrifice his own kin, became an immediate success in 1732, indeed a fixture in opera life in France, receiving over a hundred performances at the Opra alone in the three decades following its premire. Montclair and his librettist Pellegrin were open to preparing revised versions of the opera and it is the third and conclusive edition which has been worked on by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and recorded by Vashegyi and his musicians. The central and demanding role of Iphise here is taken by Chantal Santon Jeffery, who is joined by Tassis Christoyannis as the unfortunate but successful-in-war title character, Judith van Wanroij as the bewildered but resolute mother and Thomas Doli as the relayer of divine messages, Phine. There is an imaginative and individual flair to Montclair's music, nurtured by his extensive orchestral pit experience at the Paris Opra and Jepht is a work of his maturity. As well as the tautness of the third edition, the fruits of all this experience are to be heard here with the Orfeo Orchestra showing its paces in zesty airs, minuets, marches and a chaconne, but also with a musette- tinged pastoral celebration this last also allows the Purcell Choir opportunities to excel; elsewhere, the choir is called on variously to represent warriors, Israelites, and companions of Iphise.

"Vashegyi’s Hungarian forces have an enviable reputation for their Rameau recordings, and Jephté, recorded during a 2019 run of concert performances, merits similar praise. There’s real relish in the players’ delivery, and Vashegyi finds the right balance of formal decorum and expressivity, encouraging his soloists to do likewise...the performance grips and never lets go." - Opera, September 2020.