Under the title Occitan Nights, a few troubadour songs have been collected here. Those poet-musicians celebrated the beauty of women, praised the courage of men and evoked the parting of lovers at daybreak. The Céladon Ensemble offers us a poetic, inspired vision of these lovely melodies. Taking its name from the hero of Honoré d’Urfé’s Astrée, the Céladon ensemble explores the early music repertoire with charm and fantasy, striving to reinvent the form of its concerts at each appearance. Led by countertenor Paulin Bündgen, Céladon seeks to avoid the beaten tracks and enjoys surveying the repertoire linked with the countertenor timbre, between mediaeval, renaissance and baroque music. The ensemble is a regular guest of festivals and concert seasons, recognized for the quality of its interpretations and profoundly human relations with the audience

Ricercar first released this collection of cantatas by Buxtehude in 2007 to mark the 300th anniversary of the composer’s death; it provides a comprehensive summary of the different musical styles that Buxtehude employed. Set to both Latin and German texts, these "geistliche Konzerte" are remarkable not only for their emotional and theatrical writing for the voice but also for the close linking of the instrumental parts with the vocal lines. Ricercar, to seek, has been the underlying motto of the Ricercar Consort ever since its foundation. It was in 1985, with J. S. Bach’s Musical Offering, that the ensemble made its first concert tour, having already acquired a solid international reputation with its recordings, notably in German Baroque cantatas and instrumental music. Today, under the direction of Philippe Pierlot, the Ricercar Consort continues to explore the Baroque repertoire, from chamber music to opera and oratorio, and to enthrall music-lovers with performances that are both profound and rigorous.

‘Dinner being over, His Majesty spoke to Mlle de la Guerre in a most gracious manner; after having praised her sonatas extensively, he said to her that they could not be compared to any other such works. Mlle de la Guerre could not have received higher praise, for these words revealed that the King had not only found her music to be most fine, but also to be original — a quality that today is extremely rare’ (Le Mercure galant, 1707). This new release presents the violin sonatas by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

The works presented on this release place us firmly in the midst of the events and ceremonies of 17th century France, the period known as the Grand Siècle. That period’s unusually splendid pomp and ceremony can be seen in the famous Te Deum, whilst the devotion and ritual suitable for a solemn feast day are evident in the Messe pour plusieurs instruments au lieu des orgues. The conjunction of these two pieces casts a spotlight on Charpentier’s musical language, whose archaic and modern style of writing and vocal and instrumental colors were unique in the 17th century.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed his most renowned organ works — the Toccatas, the Fantasia in G minor and the Passacaglia in C minor — in Weimar, in the stylus fantasticus so beloved of his Northern German masters Buxtehude and Reinken. Bach here follows in his predecessors’ footsteps in all of these large-scale works: the freely inventive writing in the preludes is linked to the rigor of the fugal construction and so brings them to a majestic conclusion.

Even though the astonishing Capriccio stravagante with all of it's imitations of instruments and animals is well known to all lovers of baroque music, the other works by this virtuoso violinist are almost completely unknown. The Capriccio is the only example of such a work in the five volumes of music that he published in the 1620s, his remaining works consisting of polyphonic dances in the French style and of brilliant sonatas for violin. This collection of works by Farina is a source not only of astonishment and wonder but also of tenderness as well as other emotions.

Luigi Zenobi, a virtuoso cornetist known as ‘Luigi del cornetto’, was born in Ancona in the mid-sixteenth century. He later moved to Vienna, where he entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian II. His reputation grew and he subsequently worked for the Este family in Ferrara, where he was the most respected and best-paid musician at court up to that time, so sought-after were his talents. Luigi was also a painter, poet, miniaturist and music scholar. An eyewitness recalled the delicacy of his playing: ‘softer than the harpsichord when its lid is closed.’ Giovanni Sansoni, a composer and cornetist probably originally from Venice, was born around 1593. He was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Graz in 1613 and followed him to Vienna when he became Emperor in 1619. He sent his compositions to Saxony, and the young Schutz sent him former choirboys to be taught the cornet and the bassoon, two instruments on which he was an absolute master. Sansoni became the inspiration for the great instrumental composers of the first half of the seventeenth century in Vienna. Our two legends of the cornet have one thing in common: they were both knighted by an emperor, Zenobi even calling himself ‘Cavaliere del cornetto.’

At the height of the Renaissance, the music of Orlande de Lassus frequently combines the emotion of secular music with sacred compositions. With their erotic connotations, the texts of The Song of Songs are an ideal source for bringing together sacred and profane feelings. Based on his most famous song, Lassus wrote one of his unitary masses: Suzanne un jour. Along with the Magnificat that he composed on De Rore's madrigal Ancor che col partire, here are two religious compositions of which the themes are borrowed from evocations of amorous turmoil.

In his Musick’s Monument of 1676, Thomas Mace described in great detail numerous aspects of contemporary musical life in London. This volume evokes all the characteristics of English music, going back to the most glorious years of the Renaissance, with a particular emphasis on the repertory written for consort of viols. While his writings describe the performing practices of the time, they also provide invaluable information on instrument making, which has enabled L’Achéron to build a ‘set’ of six viols following Mace’s indications. For this new project of English music, the ensemble inaugurates a new virginal and an organ made in accordance with the famous theorist’s specifications. The programme comprises fantasias, ayres and dances by composers who brought this viol consort tradition to its peak, including Alfonso Ferrabosco, John Ward, William White, Thomas Lupo, Richard Dering, Giovanni Coperario, William Lawes, John Jenkins and Christopher Simpson.

Ensemble Clematis continues delving into the instrumental music of the Italian Baroque repertoire, with this new release featuring the compositions of Giovanni Legrenzi. Legrenzi was one of the most performed composers of the Italian Baroque era during his time. He is credited with an impressive published catalogue, and many unpublished works that were found posthumously. This album contains the complete anthology of Legrenzi’s instrumental pieces, totaling 24 tracks.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed his most renowned organ works — the Toccatas, the Fantasia in G minor and the Passacaglia in C minor — in Weimar, in the stylus fantasticus so beloved of his Northern German masters Buxtehude and Reinken. Bach here follows in his predecessors’ footsteps in all of these large-scale works: the freely inventive writing in the preludes is linked to the rigour of the fugal construction and so brings them to a majestic conclusion. This recording includes all of these magnificent masterpieces. Bernard Foccroulle was born in Liège (Belgium) in 1953. He began his international career as an organist in the mid-70s, playing a wide range of repertoire from Renaissance to Contemporary Music. His discography as a soloist includes more than forty CDs. He has won awards including the Diapason d’Or for his recording of Dietrich Buxtehude’s complete organ works for the Ricercar label, as well as for the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, which he recorded on beautifully preserved historic instruments.

On the occasion of the 2015 exhibition that the Grand Palais in Paris is devoting to Diego Velazquez, this disc proposes an evocation of the music that one could have been heard at the court of Spain under the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV. Heirs to the tradition of the Flemish polyphonists, the sacred and secular repertoires increasingly assimilated the influences of the melodies and rhythms of folk music. As attested to by the painter's stays in Italy, Spanish composers were also charmed by the novelties of the Italians' Baroque language.

Careful examination of the manuscript sources of the harpsichord pieces of the ancestors of Francois Couperin ‘Le Grand’ reveals that nowhere are these compositions indisputably attributed to one of the three brothers Louis, Francois and Charles, born in Chaumes-en-Brie in 1626, 1630 and 1638. In these sources, the signatures mention an enigmatic ‘Monsieur Couperin’. The question of the authorship of all these compositions thus remains open. What is certain is that, for various reasons, Louis, who died in 1661, cannot under any circumstances be the composer of all the pieces in the corpus generally attributed to him. Which pieces can be restored to Charles and perhaps Francois, who died in 1679 and 1701 respectively? It is this riddle, worthy of a detective story, that this recording attempts to solve...

The greater part of the CD is taken up by the Noels pour les Instruments that Charpentier set for instrumental ensemble and organ. Ricecar's interpretation of this work is based on the original manuscript and respects the marked instrumentation as well as Charpentier's own specifications for organ registrations. They also recorded the original versions of the above-mentioned Christmas carols, complete with their many verses as they appeared in French collections published at the beginning of the 18th century. This recording of Christmas music can be enjoyed throughout the year!

The arpeggione, invented in 1823 by the Viennese luthier Johann Georg Stauffer, had a curious destiny. As it's alternative names 'guitar violoncello' and 'guitare d'amour' suggest, it is in fact a guitar fitted with a bridge, held between the knees like a cello and played with a bow. The instrument enjoyed some success for around a decade, but, oddly enough, almost nothing has survived from it's specific repertory except one supreme masterpiece: the sonata Franz Schubert wrote for it in 1824. The guitar was very popular in Vienna at that time, and Schubert was also fond of it; the original version of Die sch�ne M�llerin was published with guitar accompaniment! Guido Balestracci and the musicians of L'Amoroso have built a delightful Schubertiad around this famous sonata, combining the arpeggione and the piano with voice and guitars to appropriate a rich selection of the Viennese composer's lieder.

Classical Music

Born in Leuze (Hainaut) around 1430, Johannes Martini was initially active in Konstanz, then in Milan and Ferrara, where he died on 23 October 1497. Closely connected with the d’Este family, he was paid in 1479 for the production of a large volume of vocal music for the ducal chapel of Ferrara. He is also the key contributor to the Casanatense Chansonnier, which was compiled for the marriage of Isabella d’Este to Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga in 1490. Thanks to these collections, we can for the first time present a glimpse of the immense output (motets, psalms, mass movements, chansons, instrumental chansons) of one of the most refined composers of the generation before Josquin’s.

Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, a French-born flautist, was active at the court of Dresden. He is known to have been the teacher of Johann Joachim Quantz and a friend of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote a few concertante arias for him in his cantatas. He was considered one of the greatest virtuosos of his time. This recording is the world premiere of a recently discovered collection of sonatas. Accompanied by the Concerto à cinq parties, these sonatas represent for the flautist Olivier Riehl and the ensemble Le Petit Trianon a recreational area conducive to enjoyment, combining virtuosity, energy and expressiveness to produce a disc rich in color and novelty.

‘Fear not...’ The Angel’s words to the shepherds suggest the daring premise of this recording, which, for Ricercar’s fortieth anniversary, enriches in highly original fashion the series dedicated to the discovery of early instruments and their repertory. The cover illustration, depicting two angels playing the bass shawm and the bassoon, perfectly portrays the subject of this album devoted to the original repertories written for the two instruments in seventeenth-century Germany, whether it be the ceremonial music of the Stadtpfeifer (town musicians), chamber music or even sacred compositions.

François Devienne (1759-1803), sometimes nicknamed the ‘French Mozart’, was equaled famed for his talents as a flautist and a bassoonist. He was one of the first professors at the Paris Conservatoire, established in the early years of the Republic. Devienne devoted a large proportion of his compositions, in several different forms, to the two instruments of which he was a virtuoso exponent. The programme presents several of his trios, which combine the violin and the cello with the two wind instruments in turn. These works possess all the charm of the galant aesthetic that developed in the late eighteenth century, along with a certain penchant for virtuosity.

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.

On March 23, 1783, an important concert took place in Vienna, playing a considerable role for Mozart’s reputation in the imperial capital, where he had resided since 1781. It is obvious that Mozart wanted to be herad in both what he had composed prior to his move to Vienna, as well as I his more recent works. From the Salzburg repertoire, he borrowed the ‘Haffner’ Symphony. To this he added the long concertant movement for wind instruments from the ‘Posthorn’ Serenade. Here we also find two piano concertos, one from Salzburg and one which was composed likely for this specific occasion. Several arias are also included from his earlier operas. The Millenium Orchestra with Jodie Devos and Sebastian Wienand have painstakingly recorded this release to mimic this historic concert, so that the listener can rediscover this monumental night as if they were there.

The oratorio Theodora was first performed at the Covent Garden Theatre on 16 March 1750 and clearly took Londoners by surprise. Handel had, after all, made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in his choice of subject. The grandiose episodes of the Old Testament, the glorious struggles of Solomon, Saul, or Judas Maccabaeus are no more: the young martyr Theodora leads neither a community nor troops into battle. In a work far removed from the grand spectacle of biblical oratorios, Handel invites us to witness the poignant tale of a personal drama, a drama of the beginnings of Christianity fuelled by conscience, faith, and the heartbreak that they cause.

Night falls and Mr. Dowland cannot sleep and seeks release in his faithful orpharion. This, however, is no ordinary night: Orpheus and Arion inhabit the dark reaches of his instrument and awake in an instant as Dowland touches the silver strings with his goldsmith's fingers. They take him on a powerful dreamlike journey, a visionary reverie that is full of surprises and avant-garde soundscapes. The music of the 1600s is gradually transformed into unexpected worlds before Dowland finally sinks into deep sleep.

The motet for solo voice and two dessus, usually two violins, and the cantata with instrumental accompaniment originated in Italy at the dawn of the 17th century. The genre was introduced to France by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and by travelling Italian musicians and rapidly became one of the key showpieces of Italian taste and style. The genre was deployed superbly in the early 18th century by two magnificent composers who were practically contemporaries: Andre Campra and Nicolas Bernier. Campra's natural attraction to Italian music is easily explained, as he was the son of an Italian doctor living in Aix-en-Provence and was also a pupil of the great Poitevin in the same city. Bernier, if we are to believe certain sources, was a pupil in Rome of the Venetian Antonio Caldara, one of the most important composers of his time.