Salvatore Carchiolo Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: Les Pieces de Clavecin

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre is one of the most remarkable female musical figures in history. Rarely has a woman composer garnered such esteem in her own time, and her success, rather than provoking resentment in the hearts of her contemporaries, inspired the utmost admiration. One has to give credit to the Grand Siècle, a unique period in this regard, for granting Élisabeth the respect she truly deserved. This recording features works seldom heard but nonetheless of exceptional quality, exemplifying two genres in which Jacquet de La Guerre excelled: the French cantata and the suite for harpsichord. In these, we can discover the intrinsic and timeless value of her artistry, regardless of the anecdotal aspects of the historical and social conditions in which they were created.

This release was originally part of a two-disc album of vocal and instrumental pieces by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre issued in 1986. The music by this gifted contemporary of François Couperin is enjoying a renaissance, and justifiably, for it is inventive and affecting. Sopranos Isabelle Poulenard and Sophie Boulin are fluent in the somewhat rarefied idiom of the 'cantate française' and the result is delicately pleasing. Four of the cantatas on the disc are taken from Jacquet's first collection of Cantates françaises sur des sujets tirés de l'écriture, published in 1708, and dedicated to Louis XIV. The fifth work, Jephté, comes from a second collection issued in 1711 and is distinct from the other cantatas on the disc in being written for two voices rather than one.

1694: the first French opera composed by a woman is premiered at the Academie royale de musique. The fateful destiny of the Greek lovers, driven to blindness and horror by the gods: Cephalus will kill Procris, whom he believes to be unfaithful, and himself… A virtuoso harpsichordist much appreciated by Louis XIV, Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre chose to become a composer at a time when such freedom was virtually unheard of for a woman. Her gamble paid off, with six performances and the admiration of posterity: this flamboyant work has finally been brought back to the public by Reinoud van Mechelen.

The musical collection by Antonia Padoani Bembo entitled _Produzioni armoniche_ (Harmonic Productions) contains cantatas and arias that together establish an intriguing portrait of the singer-composer born around 1640 in the Veneto. She received help from the guitarist-composer Francesco Corbetta who most probably accompanied her when she sang for Louis XIV, thereby obtaining a life-long pension with which to live in a women's community in Paris.

Chassée de Saint-Pétersbourg par la révolution bolchévique, la jeune Russe Xénia Ossoline affronte les drames et le dénuement de l'exil. Pour protéger sa famille, elle s'installe à Paris et devient mannequin. Sa rencontre avec le séduisant photographe Max von Passau bouleverse son existence. Ils vivent une passion orageuse entre Berlin et Paris mais l'orgueil pousse Xénia à épouser un autre homme. …