New Chamber Opera and Gary Cooper have become renowned for their elegant interpretations of early operatic and chamber works, receiving high praise for their previous Charpentier disc.

This disc features the seminal Andromède, a 'machine play' with spectacular effects, tempered by Charpentier's cantata-like treatment of the choral and balletic interludes, which lend the work a truly operatic quality. The previously unrecorded Ballet de Polieucte is ideally suited to the insightful interpretations of New Chamber Opera, an ensemble justly renowned for bringing rare works into new exposure, as with its Music from Ceremonial Oxford disc, described in International Record Review as 'An enterprising recording which fascinates and delights in equal measure'. The artists featured on this disc are also expert interpreters of the French Baroque, with their Rameau disc putting them 'at the very forefront of the youngest generation of practitioners of period-style performance' (**** BBC Music Magazine).

The combination of Charpentier's beautiful and dramatic music with the expertise and flair of New Chamber Opera and Gary Cooper, makes this an unusual and delightful disc.

Joanna Wyld

In association with SG Asset Management

Portfolio Managers to New College Endowment Fund.