Les Snorky

Jordi Savall is an exceptional figure in today’s music world. For more than thirty years he has been devoted to the rediscovery of neglected musical treasures: thirty years of research, study and interpretation, both as violist and musical director. He has restored an essential repertoire to all those with ears to hear it. Beyond the happy few who already revered the instrument, he has created a wide audience for the viola da gamba, an instrument so refined that it takes us to the very brink of silence.

Among French baroque music, chamber music is relatively unknown. And yet, the works constituting the repertoire are often as well-written as those by Vivaldi or Bach, and they are not always more difficult to understand. One of the best-known composer of the genre is François Couperin, brilliant harpsichordist who used to be a musician at the French court. His Nations are one of his non-religious masterpieces.

Paris, early Twentieth Century: in the space of three ballets, a previously unknown Russian composer revolutionised the music of his time. With The Firebird and Petrushka, respectively fairytale and folktale, and of course The Rite of Spring, a telluric invocation with its insanely innovative harmonies and rhythms, Stravinsky dynamised the Late Romantic orchestra, taking it to literally unheard-of places.