Luogo e data di registrazione		Liegi (Belgium) - Settembre 1980
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		-
	Recording		Eine Aufnahme des Westdeutschen Rundfunks
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Edizione CD		Ricercar | RIC 063033 | 1 CD - durata 32' 01" | (p) 1989 | ADD
	Original Cover		Gérard de Leirasse (1640-1711), Le Tribunal de la sottise (detail), Liège, Musée de l'Art Wallon
	Note		-

La cour a dénigré tes chants Dont Paris a dit des merveilles; Grétry, les oreilles des grands Sont sou vent de grandes oreilles! Voltaire was the author of these lines, and clearly was an admirer of Grétry’s work; the "grandes oreilles" are an allusion to certain asses’ ears which appear in the libretto of the Judgement of Midas. Apollo is in momentary disgrace with Jupiter, and he is thrown down to Earth at the height of a storm. He is able to mingle unnoticed with humankind by adopting the disguise of a shepherd, and in this disguise and under the name of Alexis, he comes into contact with a peasant, Palémon, to whom he offers his services. Apollo is reatly surprised later to discover, almost as a comfort for his pains, that this simple rustic peasant, who never ceases to argue with his wife Mopsa, has two young daughters. The forthcoming marriages of the two girls, Lisa and Chloé are the latest cause for argument; Midas, the village magistrate has organised these marriages in order to keep two young men gifted with fine voices in the village, but the arrival of "Alexis" has rather turned the two girls’ heads. Midas then organises a singing contest to decide who shall marry which girl. His choice clearly falls between the song of the woodcutter Pan, which imitates the style of popular vaudeville, and that of the shepherd Marsyas which has something of the ornate declamatory style of Rameau; the totally new style of the air sung by Apollo does not appeal to him at all. As soon as he has passed judgement, asses’ ears grow on his head; Apollo reveals his true identity, and, being unable to choose between the two sisters, decides to take them both with him to Parnassus. This recording is devoted to several extracts of this Comédie mêlée d’ariettes by GRETRY, and is taken from recordings made by the West Deutschen Rundfunk in Cologne in 1980 of performances of J .P. RAMEAU’s Pygmalion coupled with the Grétry work, and given by La Petite Bande. In order to integrate this programme into the Liege Festival’s "Nuits de Septembre", which that year featured the theme Liège and the Occident (the festival always presenting works of Liégeois origin as well as mainstream repertory), a work by Grétry was included in the programme; Grétry’s critical outlook on French operatic style as it appears in the Judgement of Midas was the reason for choosing this particular work. The release on disc of these extracts has long been one of Ricercar’s projects, but one that has often been put aside because of the work’s timings. The singers’, players’ and conductor’s work in these performances was felt to be however unique, and Grétry’s music has never before sounded so convincing. At the moment when Grétry seems little by little to be coming back into fashion, this recording will certainly reveal Grétry’s originality and genius, and his music surely must be performed by musicians who have an enthusiasm for the music and a care for its correct performance in order to seduce our ears anew. It is to the rediscovery of this Liège-born composer that this release of the Judgement of Midas is dedicated, in hoping that the ears of 20th century listeners will not be as asses’ ears, but rather as those of the people of Paris. Jérôme LEJEUNE Translation: Peter LOCKWOOD