A recording of just over fifty minutes of singing José Monje Cruz, then a child under 17 years in the tape of Juan Vargas. The first four songs on the album were recorded outdoors, at the door of the Venta de Vargas. The sound is clear and captures, without echoes, nuances of voice and guitar Shrimp. The second part, the topics of 6 to 10, belong to a party in an interior room of la Venta.
Le parcours de l'égyptologue française Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, de son poste de conservatrice en chef d'un département du musée du Louvre à son rôle dans l'exposition Toutankhamon au Petit Palais en 1967, en passant par sa campagne de Nubie, qui a permis de financer le sauvetage de temples grâce à la réunion de cinquante nations. …
If you cannot imagine what Bach's five great motets would sound like as chamber music, this disc by La Petite Bande will provide an answer: they sound fabulous. With eight singers, five string players, and four wind players plus continuo, La Petite Bande's performances sound absolutely clear – even in the densest textures, every line is ideally balanced – incredibly colorful – the combinations of voices, strings, winds, and organ seem endlessly subtle – and, best of all, unbelievably expressive. Everyone's a soloist and every line is a melody, thereby making Bach's music seem more personal and intimate than usual. Of course, part of the reason for this is that most recordings of the motets, whether a cappella or accompanied, are arguably too big and heavy. With four or more singers on a part, this kind of weightiness is virtually inevitable – but with two singers to a part, the performances can be as expressive as the music director will allow. And with music director Sigiswald Kuijken also being the first violinist, the performances are supremely expressive.
La Petite Bande recorded its set during the late 1970s and these are performances which do considerable justice to the music. Brisker tempos, lighter bass string playing and an altogether more imaginative approach to continuo realization bring these concertos alive to an extent hardly realised by I Musici. Sigiswald Kuijken, the leader and director of La Petite Bande, includes a theorbo in his continuo group and this is invariably an effective addition. Both sets field a secure and lively concertino group of two violins, cello and continuo but listeners may well find that the warmer sound and greater degree of finesse provided by the concertino of I Musici is more to their liking than the thinner, wirier textures of the other. Having said that, I should add that in matters of baroque style, as in its more highly developed spirit of fantasy, La Petite Bande offers far and away the more satisfying performances.