Baroque repertoire has always played a part in Natalie Dessay’s stellar career. She first started singing it in 1999, after meeting Emmanuelle Haïm during rehearsals for Alcina at the Opera de Paris - Palais Garnier. Erato presents this double CD containing a full portrait of Natalie Dessay singing baroque music, including sacred repertoire (Bach cantatas, Magnificat, Handel: Dixit Dominus) and opera (Handel: Giulio Cesare or Rameau: Les Indes Galantes) – mainly under the baton of Emmanuelle Haïm who she formed a baroque ‘double-act’ with for over a decade. As Emmanuelle Haïm writes in the booklet: “We performed Bach, Monteverdi, Handel and Rameau on stage as well as on recordings. Natalie is a wonderful interpreter of this music, as she always is, graceful and with a unique inspiration”. The bonus DVD is an ‘unexpected scene’ filmed by Esti at Palais Garnier in 2008. Natalie Dessay sings and dances the aria of Alcina “credete al mio dolor” with French star ballerina Marie Agnès Gillot, who also choreographed it. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts the Concert d’Astrée.
