Lucrezia (Portraits of a Woman) on CD

The tragic story of Lucretia was the inspiration for many works of art, literature and music. After being raped by Sextus Tarquin, son of the king of the Etruscans occupying Rome, Lucretia speaks out to describe her ordeal and demand justice. Then, refusing to live in dishonor, she takes her own life. Jérôme Correas and Les Paladins explore this narrative and put into perspective the only four Baroque cantatas on the subject known to date. In these miniature operas, Alessandro Scarlatti, Montéclair, Handel and Marcello set Lucretia's speech to music: alternating between expressionist recitatives and virtuoso arias, these monologues follow the development of Lucretia's emotional state, moving from murmur to cry, from exaltation to despondency, right up to her final silence. Jérôme Correas has teamed up with four of France's finest singers - Sandrine Piau, Amel Brahim-Djelloul, Karine Deshayes and Lucile Richardot - to bring Lucretia's story to life, bringing it to us intact in all it's strength and violence, superimposed on the stories of today and raising questions about contemporary women's voices.