Bach Labadie

Alexandre Tharaud follows his dazzling album of Scarlatti sonatas with another fusion of modern and historically informed performance styles. Joining him in this new collection of Bach keyboard concertos is the dynamic period-instrument ensemble Les Violons du Roy, under its director Bernard Labadie.

Cellist Truls Mørk’s profound sensitivity to musical style is once again evident as he and Les Violons du Roy, under their director Bernard Labadie, bring modern instruments and 18th century sensibilities to the cello concertos of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (third son of Johann Sebastian), in performances that give us ‘the best of both worlds’.

Alexandre Tharaud follows his dazzling album of Scarlatti sonatas with another fusion of modern and historically informed performance styles. Joining him in this new collection of Bach keyboard concertos is the dynamic period-instrument ensemble Les Violons du Roy, under its director Bernard Labadie.

ATMA Classique presents Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations in an arrangement for strings and continuo by Bernard Labadie, performed by Les Violons du Roy under Labadie’s baton. This recording was originally released on the Dorian label in 2000.

Cellist Truls Mørk’s profound sensitivity to musical style is once again evident as he and Les Violons du Roy, under their director Bernard Labadie, bring modern instruments and 18th century sensibilities to the cello concertos of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (third son of Johann Sebastian), in performances that give us ‘the best of both worlds’.

Les Violons du Roy. Chamber orchestra based in Quebec City, composed of 15 permanent musicians, founded in 1984 by principal conductor Bernard Labadie. Its name comes from that of the court orchestra of the Bourbon kings of France in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The glorious voices of Karina Gauvin and Daniel Taylor and the refined playing of Les Violons du Roy will resound wonderfully thanks to this hybrid SACD–Surround/Stereo recording, bringing to life Bach’s little-known homage to Pergolesi: the motet “Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden” after the Italian composer’s famed Stabat Mater. As always with Bach the transcriber, he didn’t simply copy the original work wholesale, but carefully adapted it to its new German and Lutheran text (Psalm 51), enriching for example the basso-continuo and adding an independent viola part.

A new recording from violinist Rachel Podger is always worth attention. And before you even get to appreciating the first-class performances - faithful realizations of Bach’s Art of Fugue skillfully arranged for strings - you notice the immediate, vibrant presence of the instruments. The sound is stunning, reminiscent of the early days of digital recording, when listeners used to marvel at how realistic the sound was. Channel Classics has been doing this forever; we just may have forgotten how special it is when it’s done right.

Rarely do we feel the presence of Bach so vividly on a recording as we do here with this set of Trio Sonata arrangements, performed by violins, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. What a perfect combination, thanks to Richard Boothby's settings and to the wonderfully synergistic interaction among these very experienced early music players–violinists Catherine Mackintosh (in her best recorded performance in a while) and Catherine Weiss, gambist Boothby, and harpsichordist Robert Woolley.

PHOENIX performs Bach's Goldberg Variations in an outstanding arrangement for strings and continuo made by conductor Bernard Labadie.