Classical Music

The Ensemble Santenay invites us on an enthralling journey through the French Ars Subtilior repertory of the fourteenth century. These pieces with their often esoteric texts are presented here as a genuine sound project. Just as works of art are framed with the greatest care, the musicians have devised sound frames for the compositions on this album, in order to introduce them, link them with each other, take them further than usual, and above all make sure our ears and our consciousness are alert at the moment when the art makes its appearance. These sonic atmospheres are realized with the aid of sounds produced by instruments, scraps of pieces of music, sometiems a single voice.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Following the two volumes of the Guide des Instruments, RICERCAR goes further into the knowledge of several instruments and their specific repertoire. It was in 1817 that the instrument maker Halary invented this instrument whose low register prefigures the tuba. Integrated into the orchestra by Berlioz, the ophicleide was also used in church to accompany the plainchant and quite present in military bands. But it also benefitted from a solo repertoire in the concerto genre as well as in chamber music. Patrick Wibart impresses with his total mastery of the instrument and the flexibility of his playing.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Frescobaldi's renown primarily stems from his keyboard works and from his position as organist at St. Peter's in Rome, although a certain number of his compositions are nonetheless linked to his connections with Florence and with the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In the city that saw the birth of accompanied monody Frescobaldi published two volumes of Arie musicali; these demonstrate a mastery of dramatic and theatrical expression that could have easily allowed him to become an opera composer. The instrumental Canzoni are dedicated to the same patron and are presented here as a subtle counterpoint to the vocal works.

After having been organist at the church of Saint-Paul in Paris, the Li�ge-born Henry Du Mont became ma�tre de chapelle to Louis XIV. His first volume of motets, the Cantica Sacra, was published in 1652, thanks to which he made a name for himself as one of the creators of the motet fran�ais; he also composed the first motets � voix seule, a genre that would develop greatly over the following generations. This recording also includes several motets by L�onard Hodemont, ma�tre de chapelle of the cathedral of Saint-Lambert in Li�ge.

Georg Philipp Telemann is one of the composers whose cause Ricercar has always championed with fervor. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of his death, Ricercar now presents a reissue of its vast repertoire, which makes up a complete portrait of the output of this inspired contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach: His sonatas, trios, fantasias, concertos, and suites written for all sorts of instrumentations are accompanied by several sacred compositions, cantatas, and a St. Matthew Passion which, like a number of other works in the set, is released in this format for the first time. Each of the performers featured on this extensive recording boasts an accomplished career, and each is educated in historically-informed performance practices. Soloists and chamber artists include Frederic De Roos, Marcel Ponseele, Stephanie De Failly, Philippe Pierlot, Pierre-Yves Madeuf, Guy Penson, and many more. Ensembles featured on this release include Ricercar Consort, La Pastorella, Ensemble Eolus, Lingua Franca, Les Agremens, and Choeur De Chambre de Namur (Wieland Kuijken).

The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and tender sound. For this reason it is called a mute cornett. Four such instruments that by some miracle survived the loss of the great collections of the Kassel court are now kept in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a doctoral thesis led by Lambert Colson. It is now possible to trace the entire history of these instruments, from their manufacture by great Venetian makers, their acquisition by Moritz Von Hessen (the famous patron of the young Heinrich Schutz), the names of the musicians who played them, to the music that was composed for this mysterious cousin of the cornett. This recording will use copies of historical instruments in works composed for the Kassel court, for the most part unpublished, at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona.

The majority of the sacred music of Johann Christian Bach, the youngest of the sons of J.S. Bach, was written during the time that he was organist of Milan Cathedral. This album includes first recordings of three sections of the Mass, one of these being a large-scale setting of the Gloria in which the music for the solo voices attains an almost operatic quality. The orchestral writing is also particularly brilliant and has already a classical sonority as well as passages in true concertante style. Four soloists perform here, alongside the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and Les Agremens, Les Agremens, founded in 1995 in Belgium, was created by the Namur Chamber Choir to provide them with the support of a reliable, competent partner for their own Baroque music productions.

Classical Music

Johannes Schenk Le Nymphe di Rheno contains twelve sonatas for two bass viols without figured bass. He makes use of the Italian sonata form as he does in his church sonatas and chamber sonata with their dance movements. Wieland Kuijken, a pioneer of the viola da gamba revival, and Francois Joubert-Caillet recorded these sonatas in the wonderful atmosphere of the superb Romanesque church of Notre-Dame de Centeilles in the Minervois region of France.