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BIS

The Trio Sonata - Lully, Couperin, Etc / London Baroque

$21.99 Only 3 left

Details

Composer
CLERAMBAULT, LOUIS-NICOLAS CO
Artist
London Baroque
Format
CD
Label
BIS
Released
Apr 01, 2005
Catalog #
BIS-CD-1465
UPC
7318590014653

About






This is the second of a planned series of eight discs promising to trace the development of the trio sonata, the archetypal Baroque chamber form. The first, devoted to music from London Baroque’s home country, was reviewed in Fanfare 28:3 with considerable enthusiasm by Laura Rónai, and by myself elsewhere in a review that largely mirrored my colleague’s findings. Now London Baroque has turned its attention to what was happening during the same period across the English Channel, with equally commendable results.


The ambivalent French attitude to the sonata, an Italian invention, was famously and sardonically expressed in the words of playwright Fontenelle: “Sonate, que me veux-tu” (literally “Sonata, what do you want from me?”). A more balanced view came from the theorist François Raguenet who, although a stern critic of Italian opera, declared that he had “never met with a master in France but what agreed that the Italians knew much better how to turn and vary a trio than the French.” A number of French masters, indeed, sought to integrate the spirit of the Italian sonata, specifically the Corellian sonata, into their own style, among whom François Couperin attempted a fusion that reached a climax in the two sets of L’apothéoses , dedicated respectively to Corelli (1724) and Lully (1725). (Both have already been recorded by London Baroque on BIS CD1275, not reviewed in Fanfare. )


The selection made by London Baroque provides a representative cross section of writing in trio style, taking us chronologically from Lully to Clérambault (one assumes the series will include a second French disc devoted to the 18th century), and managing to include at least one unfamiliar name in the shape of Jean Nicolas Geoffroy (?–1694), a shadowy figure whose obscurity is not helped by the fact that there was more than one composer of that name working in Paris at the time. According to gambist Charles Medlam’s note, his Dialogues were probably originally intended for organ, but they work well enough in this form, if too diffuse to lay any claim to the structural balance of the true trio sonata. Much the same can be said of the little pieces by Louis Couperin, which provide no indication as to instrumentation. Lully’s trios for the ceremony of Le coucher du Roi , performed daily at Versailles by the petits violons , do achieve true equality between the two violins, but, true to form, the Italian-born Lully firmly implanted French style on the music. Although Marais’s Pièces en trio (1692) were the first works to be published in France in trio form, they are in fact a collection of mostly dance movements that following tradition could be arranged in suites. As such, they too bear little relationship to the true trio sonata, preferring to explore the French love of varying sonorities rather than the symmetrical balance of the Italian sonata, an observation that applies equally to the Suite by Gaspard le Roux (1660–1707).


It is only with the next generation that an awareness of the Italian model emerges. François Couperin’s La Superbe is well named, being a majestic work that pays overt homage to Corelli in the suspensions of its opening movement, and the fugal writing of the second, while Jean-Féry Rebel’s tombeau in honor of Lully largely remains loyal to native style, but also betrays Italian leanings in some dazzling solo violin-writing and furious tremolandos in its fourth movement. Most Italianate of all is the work by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, significantly the only one included here to bear the name “sonata.”


With the proviso that, as with the disc of English works, London Baroque’s style of playing manifestly owes more to the 18th than the 17th century, these performances can be thoroughly recommended. The technical expertise, splendid sense of balance between the players, finesse, and spirited approach are by now all familiar assets, while the music is of generally high quality and well worth hearing. The engineering occasionally imparts a glassiness to the violins’s upper register, but is otherwise fine. I look forward to further issues in this interesting series.


FANFARE: Brian Robins

Tracklist 33 tracks

  1. 1 Symphonie 01:44
    Track
    1
    Title
    Symphonie
    Duration
    01:44
    Composer
    Jean-Baptiste Lully
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  2. 2 Sarabande 01:26
    Track
    2
    Title
    Sarabande
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Jean-Baptiste Lully
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  3. 3 Menuet 01:15
    Track
    3
    Title
    Menuet
    Duration
    01:15
    Composer
    Jean-Baptiste Lully
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  4. 4 Chaconne 03:08
    Track
    4
    Title
    Chaconne
    Duration
    03:08
    Composer
    Jean-Baptiste Lully
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  5. 5 Dialogue pour le clavessin et les violes 04:49
    Track
    5
    Title
    Dialogue pour le clavessin et les violes
    Duration
    04:49
    Composer
    Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  6. 6 Simphonie in D Minor (Bauyn Manuscript, folio 26v (102v)) (version for chamber ensemble) 01:34
    Track
    6
    Title
    Simphonie in D Minor (Bauyn Manuscript, folio 26v (102v)) (version for chamber ensemble)
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Louis Couperin
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  7. 7 Dialogue 01:06
    Track
    7
    Title
    Dialogue
    Duration
    01:06
    Composer
    Louis Couperin
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  8. 8 I. — 01:49
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. —
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    François Couperin
  9. 9 II. [Légèrement] 00:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. [Légèrement]
    Duration
    00:50
    Composer
    François Couperin
  10. 10 III. Tres lentement 01:34
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Tres lentement
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    François Couperin
  11. 11 IV. Légèrement 01:38
    Track
    11
    Title
    IV. Légèrement
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    François Couperin
  12. 12 V. Air tendre 01:24
    Track
    12
    Title
    V. Air tendre
    Duration
    01:24
    Composer
    François Couperin
  13. 13 VI. Gayement 01:00
    Track
    13
    Title
    VI. Gayement
    Duration
    01:00
    Composer
    François Couperin
  14. 14 I. Allemande grave 03:39
    Track
    14
    Title
    I. Allemande grave
    Duration
    03:39
    Composer
    Gaspard Le Roux
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  15. 15 II. Courante 01:07
    Track
    15
    Title
    II. Courante
    Duration
    01:07
    Composer
    Gaspard Le Roux
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  16. 16 III. Sarabande 01:23
    Track
    16
    Title
    III. Sarabande
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Gaspard Le Roux
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  17. 17 IV. Gavotte en Rondeau 00:53
    Track
    17
    Title
    IV. Gavotte en Rondeau
    Duration
    00:53
    Composer
    Gaspard Le Roux
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  18. 18 I. Lentement - Allegro - Lent 03:41
    Track
    18
    Title
    I. Lentement - Allegro - Lent
    Duration
    03:41
    Composer
    Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
  19. 19 II. Allegro 01:20
    Track
    19
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    01:20
    Composer
    Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
  20. 20 III. [Piano] 00:37
    Track
    20
    Title
    III. [Piano]
    Duration
    00:37
    Composer
    Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
  21. 21 IV. [Allegro] 01:12
    Track
    21
    Title
    IV. [Allegro]
    Duration
    01:12
    Composer
    Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
  22. 22 Prelude 02:49
    Track
    22
    Title
    Prelude
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  23. 23 Sarabande I 01:49
    Track
    23
    Title
    Sarabande I
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  24. 24 Gigue 01:49
    Track
    24
    Title
    Gigue
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  25. 25 Menuet I - II 03:07
    Track
    25
    Title
    Menuet I - II
    Duration
    03:07
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  26. 26 Plainte 02:33
    Track
    26
    Title
    Plainte
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  27. 27 Petitte Passacaille 03:30
    Track
    27
    Title
    Petitte Passacaille
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  28. 28 Air 01:25
    Track
    28
    Title
    Air
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Marin Marais
    Ensemble
    London Baroque
  29. 29 I. Lentement 02:15
    Track
    29
    Title
    I. Lentement
    Duration
    02:15
    Composer
    Jean-Féry Rebel
  30. 30 II. Vif 02:04
    Track
    30
    Title
    II. Vif
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Jean-Féry Rebel
  31. 31 III. Lentement 02:47
    Track
    31
    Title
    III. Lentement
    Duration
    02:47
    Composer
    Jean-Féry Rebel
  32. 32 IV. [Vivement] 03:39
    Track
    32
    Title
    IV. [Vivement]
    Duration
    03:39
    Composer
    Jean-Féry Rebel
  33. 33 V. Les Regrets 02:18
    Track
    33
    Title
    V. Les Regrets
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Jean-Féry Rebel