4/5. Medee. Donald Macleod focuses on Charpentier's tragedie lyrique, Medee. The composer's late rival Lully had had a virtual monopoly of music at King Louis XIV's court, and Lully's supporters were scathing in their attacks on Medee, and the opera was not a success. However, contemporary writer Sebastian de Brossard had a high opinion of it, saying that " is from this opera, more than any other, that one can learn the essentials of good composition", and he was vindicated in 1984 when the work was revived at the Opera de Lyon.
Medee (excerpts) Lorraine Hunt (soprano), Noemi Rime (soprano), Mark Padmore
(tenor), Bernard Deletre (bass), Les Arts Florissants, director William Christie Repeated on Wednesday at 12 midnight