Philippe Katerinecomme Disait ma Petite Sœur

Based on concerts presented in Spain and France countertenors Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic have joined with William Christie and the Les Arts Florissants to produce this CD of duets written for countertenors.

The 18th century was a time when deportment and noble behavior were essential for people of quality. Dance formed a major part of all social ceremonies and theatrical presentations. Nowhere was dancing more highly regarded than in France, where ballets de cour assumed great importance, and the Lullian tragedie en musique had its counterpart in the ballet en action of the opera-ballet. The Fantaisie (1729) and Plaisirs champetres (1734) of Jean-Fiery Rebel, reflecting the differing personalities of their prima ballerinas Camargo and Salle, have been called choreographic symphonies.

Agostino Steffani’s sumptuous 1688 opera Niobe, Regina di Tebe has proved a revelation to audiences since its first modern production in 2008. The spellbinding French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, who appeared in its US premiere at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2011, stars in this new recording, with Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin in the title role of the proud, but tragic Theban queen.

This collection of Marais’ music was published in 1692 as “Trio Pieces for flutes, violins and dessus de viole,” the dessus being the second smallest of the viola de gamba family. (There was a pardessus de viole.) The notes here call this music “a totally different side of Marin Marais’ work,” for he composed these dance movements not for himself but for his companions, Read more à bec, which are accompanied variously by guitar or theorbo and harpsichord. I think it’s amusing to think of the king, any king, being enticed to sleep by dances, especially by such vigorous, cheerful stomps as the Bransle de village , but then there was little about France’s monarchs that wasn’t strange, and that little innocent dance is as appealing as anything here.