Alice Julien-Laferrière – Il genio inglese (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The figure of prodigiously gifted violinist Nicola Matteis looms large in this program featuring composers active in Restoration England. Transplanted from his native Italy to London, he was one of a host of artists and performers from across Europe who flocked to the city and made a crucial impact on the country’s musical culture. The artistry of Alice Julien-Laferrière and the members of the ensemble Ground Floor, demonstrates that this sumptuous and sonically seductive repertoire from the middle of the 17th century can truly hold it’s own against the work of later masters.

In addition to the artistry it has imposed on the arts, the Baroque era was an impassioned, bubbling cauldron which shook Europe by forming interactions around the entire continent. Different creative paths crossed and recrossed propagating a positive epidemic of good sense and spirit. This incessant coming and going between people and musicians is exploited by French ensemble Ground Floor who have given themselves the mission of bringing back music’s transformative and interrogative strength through works conceived in basso continuo, the beating heart of a human voice and, like in this album, a reigning violin at an English court personified here by the violinist Alice Julien-Laferrière.

Neapolitan composer and violinist Nicolas Matteis arrived in England when the newly anointed king wished to imitate the royal chapel of Louis XIV in Versailles. The violin was then entirely new in the United Kingdom where the consort of viols still reigned supreme. It is this transitional period which is evoked in this work with Matteis’ latin music as he invents his own “genio inglese” inspired by popular dances, from music heard in salons to this varied nature that the Neapolitan discovered through traversing, as he says, Europe on foot. As the musicians themselves put it, this work can act as an antidote to Brexit while being a declaration of admiration for Great Britain. – François Hudry

Tracklist:
1. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Lachrime Pavaen (05:38)
2. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Ground in D ʻper far la manoʼ (02:58)
3. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in B-Flat: I. Preludio (01:28)
4. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in B-Flat: II. Alemanda (01:15)
5. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in B-Flat: III. Burlesca (01:39)
6. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in B-Flat: IV. Pavana armoniosa (01:23)
7. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in B-Flat: V. Il Russignolo (00:58)
8. Ground Floor – Guitar Suite: I. Preludio (00:39)
9. Ground Floor – Guitar Suite: II. Minuet (01:28)
10. Ground Floor – Guitar Suite: III. Jigg (01:10)
11. Ground Floor – Guitar Suite: IV. Sarabanda (01:27)
12. Ground Floor – Guitar Suite: V. Jigg. Adagio (02:10)
13. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: I. Pavan (04:31)
14. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: II. Almand (01:39)
15. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: III. Courante (01:29)
16. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: IV. Ayre (01:52)
17. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: V. Saraband (00:31)
18. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in E Minor: VI. Jigg (01:07)
19. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: I. Passaggio Rotto (01:44)
20. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: II. Adagio (02:06)
21. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: III. Movimento incognito (02:10)
22. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: IV. Alamande (01:30)
23. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: V. Sarabanda amorosa (01:52)
24. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: VI. Andamento (01:04)
25. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in A Minor: VII. Gavotte (01:28)
26. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: I. Ouverture (03:14)
27. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: II. Farowel (01:59)
28. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: III. Air (01:57)
29. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: IV. Jigg (00:43)
30. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: I. Preludio in delasolré terza maggiore (01:23)
31. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: II. Andamento (01:39)
32. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: III. Allemande (01:49)
33. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: IV. Corrente (02:03)
34. Alice Julien-Laferrière – Suite in D Minor: V. Aria (01:30)
35. Alice Julien-Laferrière – A division upon a ground in F (04:20)