<P>RAMEAU - CHARPENTIER <BR>Musique de ballet <BR>Erato - Réf : 3984-26129-2<BR>by<BR>'Les Arts Florissants', directed by William Christie<P><BR>This sampler CD celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the French baroque music ensemble, 'Les Arts Florissants' has a lot going for it:<P>- The excellent recording introduces some ravishing music, <P>Rameau's 'Les Fetes d'Hebe' and 'Hippolyte and Acteon'<P>Extracts from 3 of Charpentier's ballet scores.<P>- It is performed with enormous elan by Les Arts Florissants. American born (now a French citizen) Christie, who founded the group, has established them as one of the leading baroque ensembles in the world. Their recordings show great musicality amd precision while taking the works at a decidedly frisky pace for the most part.<P>- There is a useful little essay giving the background to the development of these early ballets. <BR> <BR>- In the UK the 70 minute CD sells for under £5. It's not listed on their website, but I got my copy from Dance Books, so I suspect that if you contacted them they may well be able to supply it if you cannot get it locally.<P>email@dancebooks.co.uk <P> <P> <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited September 03, 2000).]