At the height of his career as a viola da gamba player, Marais published this Suite d’un goût étranger (Suite with a Foreign Flavour) in 1717, a veritable voyage of initiation into the most unexpected musical styles. He paints a portrait of the art of the viola da gamba at the French court, which is almost avant-garde in its audacity. Louis XIV heard these pieces in the latter part of his life, and must have been absolutely delighted with this string of ‘dazzling precious stones’: Tourbillon, Bijou, Tartarine, Asmatique, Sauterelle, Américaine, Caustique, Badinage, Arabesque, Fougade, Bizarre, and finally Labyrinthe, illustrating just how much one can be absorbed in pleasure in the 30 exotic ports of call of this odyssey, of which Robin Pharo is the pilot, at the head of a valiant crew which knows in turn how to be perky, puckish languid and virtuosic!