Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Marais: Works for Viola da gamba & Harpsichord (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Jordi Savall’s recording of music from Marais’s fourth book of pieces de viole is superb: elegant fluent, spirited and evocative. The music is some of Marais’s most demanding, technically and musically and Savall is uniquely suited among modern piayers to dispatch his intended unorthodoxies with just the right panache. The choice of a baroque guitar in addition to harpsichord, lending a touch of exoticism, is a stroke of genius—so effective is Hopkinson Smith’s playing that I wish it had more often been left to accompany the viol alone.

Savall has extracted 11 contrasting pieces from the Suite d’un gout etranger. The bold and rhetorical ”Marche Tartare” is coupled with its more delicate counterpart, ”La Tartarine”, the breezy ”Toubillon” finds its analogue in the peaceful ”Reveuse”. The graceful ”Arabesque” is perfectly judged and the unpretentious ”Badinage”, infused by Savall with a delicious sense of mystery, provides a perfect epilogue to what is in effect Marais’s essay on style. Also included here are the three-movement ”Festes champetre”, with its intimate solo muzette and audacious tambourin, and the well-known Frescobaldian ”Labyrinthe”, in six sections, richly varied in key and character.

The reproduction of the instruments is very realistic, although a disconcerting background noise is occasionally evident in the quiet passages. This is a must equally for connoisseurs and for recent initiates to the charms of the French viol school.

Tracklist:
01. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 8, Prelude (02:44)
02. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 10, Allemande de la familière (02:30)
03. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 11, Boutade (01:31)
04. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 12, Gavotte la favorite (01:45)
05. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 13, L a petite brillante (01:00)
06. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 2 in D Major (Excerpts): No. 14, Rondeau le gracieux (03:39)
07. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suitte d’un goût étranger (Excerpts): No. 87, Le badinage in F-Sharp Minor (05:27)
08. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suitte d’un goût étranger (Excerpts): No. 73, Caprice ou sonate (05:51)
09. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 6 in E Minor: No. 55a, Le Biscayenne (01:04)
10. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre II, Suite No. 4 in G Major: No. 82, Chaconne en rondeau (05:04)
11. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suitte d’un goût étranger (Excerpts): No. 61, Fête champêtre (05:06)
12. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suitte d’un goût étranger (Excerpts): No. 80, L’Arabesque (03:38)
13. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 1, Prelude (02:47)
14. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 2, Allemande (02:02)
15. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 3, La mignone (01:33)
16. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 4, Caprice (01:47)
17. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 5, Menuet (00:55)
18. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 6, Gigue la petite (01:41)
19. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre IV, Suite No. 1 in D Minor: No. 7, Rondeau (02:20)
20. Mélisande Corriveau & Eric Milnes – Pièces de viole, Livre II, Suite No. 3 in D Major: No. 63, Les voix humaines (03:41)