Montréal Baroque

Journey is a compilation of greatest hits from CDs of Les Boréades de Montréal, an early music ensemble that focuses on music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was probably compiled as a promotional teaser, to tantalize listeners into going out and buying the albums from which these excerpts were extracted, and if that was the intent it ought to be entirely successful. The performers play with infectious verve and with a lilt that comes close to being a swing. The pieces from the earlier to mid-Baroque, by Purcell and Cavalli, come to life with a special energy. The excerpts from Cavalli's opera La Calisto, which include transcriptions of vocal pieces, are especially entertaining, and even without words the music conveys a sense of wild hilarity.

Les Boréades is a new ensemble to me, but Manfred Kraemer is not a new name; indeed, everything I've heard him play has had that little something extra that sets his performances apart. There's something of Fabio Biondi about him, but none of the mannerisms - here, the greatest care is taken with phrasing. A micro-second of space before starting that idea, a slight delay on a cadence, a subtle inflection of the melodic line - and all the players do it.

With this 2011 release, Musica Vaticana, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, led by its founder Christopher Jackson, solidifies its reputation as one of the very finest choirs specializing in music of the Baroque and Renaissance. Its tone is warmly blended and pure, and it is able to produce a wide range of tonal colors suited to whatever is being performed. Most importantly, the chorus enters fully into the spirit of the music, so its performances are lively and spontaneous-sounding.

Erin Helyard has been acclaimed as an inspiring conductor, a virtuosic and expressive performer of the harpsichord and fortepiano, and as a lucid scholar who is passionate about promoting discourse between musicology and performance. Erin graduated in harpsichord performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with first-class honours and the University Medal. He completed his Masters in fortepiano performance and a PhD in musicology with Tom Beghin at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. He was named the Westfield Concert Scholar (Cornell University) on fortepiano for 2009–10 and from 2003 to 2012 was a central member of Montreal’s award-winning Ensemble Caprice.

Pergolesi's Stabat mater and his C minor Salve Regina were coupled earlier on the Hogwood (L'Oiseau-Lyre) recording, highly praised by NA. The addition of another Salve Regina, this one attributed not quite conclusively to Scarlatti as a late work, provides the new record with a further attraction both on the piece's own merit (irrespective of authorship) and in its affinity with the Stabat mater. Another attraction for many will lie in the identity of the two singers and the conductor.

Ha! compagnons takes the listener back to a time when the voice and the lute were the true companions in the quest for poetic and musical expression. In exploring this fruitful partnership, Canadian soprano Elodie Bouchard and American lutenist Anthony Harvey offer vivid and colourful interpretations of air de cour, ayres and monodies by 17th-century composers Giulio Caccini, Thomas Campion, Sigismondo d’India, Claudio Monteverdi and Etienne Moulinié.

This new CD of Les Boréades de Montréal, features acclaimed Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin in two French Baroque Cantatas: Orphée by Nicolas Clérambault and L'Hyver by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. The recording is completed by two instrumental pieces: the lively suite from the opera Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse by Boismortier and by Michel Corrette's Concerto comique no 25 Les Sauvages.

These traditional noëls by Claude Balbastre, Michel Corrette, Louis Claude Daquin and Jean-Francois Dandrieu are intimate and elegant, and make a unique contribution to any collection of festive seasonal music. Borrowing tunes from popular songs of the day, these 18th century composers wrote noëls that are simple in nature, combining joy and devotion.

When creators f<ck with how we experience time and space, great fictions emerge: Clive Barker's Imajica, Andrei Tarkovsky's sci-fi classic Solaris, and Godard's Alphaville. But what happens to artists when the flow of time gets f^cked up IRL? When an hour stretches into eternity, and the voices in your head begin to echo through empty rooms?

Le Duo baroque La Tour - Michel Cardin, théorbe, et Tim Blackmore, flûte à bec, viennent de terminer leur cinquième CD « Robert de Visée à Versailles », consacré à la musique de chambre de Robert de Visée. ). Le duo s'est produit à travers l'est du Canada et dans des centres importants comme Toronto, Montréal, New-York, Paris et Londres.