Naufragé

René Drouard de Bousset (1703-1760) is one of those French composers who, during their lifetimes, were the latest sensations but after brief flashes of popularity pretty much vanished from history. A student of Nicolas Bernier, he was employed primarily as an organist at a Parisian parish church and had a career ahead of him as a normal musician.

The music of Saint-Preux is universal and timeless, combining classical,popular and contemporary musical trends, with worldsales of more than thirty millions records. A small village in France is the setting for his musical inspirations and developments. It is there that he composed his first piece for organ at the age of 6.

Another one off band, Pentacle was formed in 1971 in Belfort, France. Their one album "La Clef des Songes" was released in 1975, and was produced by Ange's Christian Decamps. The lineup consisted of Claude Mentrier on keyboards, Michael Roy on Drums, Richard Tribier on bass and acoustic guitar, and Gerald Reuz on guitars and lead vocals. The music is described as elegant, avoiding the bombast of some of their contemporaries. There is also a spacey component. That does not necessarily mean completely soft. The vocals are emotional, and there are bits of guitar lashing. Passages evoke early King Crimson, and Moody Blues. There are the trademark symphonic tempo shifts, but complexity is not a hallmark.

The works of the French lutenist and composer Charles Tessier give evidence of his vast curiosity and extensive travels in the years around 1600. His Premier livre de chansons & airs de cour tant en françois qu'en italien et en gascon à 4 & 5 parties appeared in London in 1597 with a preface in Italian; the title-page refers to him as musitien de la Chambre du Roy (i.e. musician to Henri IV of France).

I wouldn’t have thought the world was anxiously waiting for a historically informed performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade . Written in 1888 and a masterpiece of orchestration, it would seem that this was one work that really cries out for the full resources of a modern symphony orchestra. So I was surprised when I saw a listing for this new recording with the Bruges-based period-instrument ensemble, Anima Eterna. Despite all the heat generated in some quarters, I remain fairly neutral regarding H.I.P., seeing it neither as the salvation of music from 20th-century excesses nor as the death of music through formalism. At their best, H.I.P. performances throw a different light on the overly familiar.