François Allot

In 1694 Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, kapellmeister at the court of Count Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, published a collection of trio sonatas for a typical German ensemble of the period: violin, viola da gamba, and bass continuo. Pairing the violin with the viola da gamba seems to exemplify the fusion of Italian and French musical traditions, and this same fusion is found in the forms of these compositions, with an Italianate sonata followed by a suite of French dances a model that Johann Sebastian Bach would later recall. These sonata-suites are endowed with undeniable charm and an infectious liveliness, and François Joubert-Caillet, with his ensemble L Achéron, give us a particularly seductive interpretation of them.

Marrying stage ‘drama’ and chamber ‘concert’, this début album from Les Surprises draws on 18th century French opera. Exploring a dynamic repertoire variously familiar and forgotten, bringing theatre into the salon, these enlightened, intimate arrangements will astonish, inspire and surprise.