Ultra Vomit et le Pouvoir de la Puissance

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has enjoyed enormous fame ever since the eighteenth century – Rousseau called its first movement ‘the most perfect and touching that has ever come from the pen of any composer’. There were many arrangements of the work, by Bach or Hiller among others. It was performed more than eighty times at the Concert Spirituel in Paris between 1753 and 1790, in multiple versions, probably also with the participation of a choir. After consulting several manuscripts and editions held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Julien Chauvin has chosen to record it with soprano and mezzo soloists (the equivalent of the French dessus and bas-dessus) and a two-part children’s choir: ‘The choir can play a real role in the narration of so powerful and poignant a text’, he says.

Jordi Savall - Monsieur de Sainte Colombe le fils & Marin Marais - Le Parnasse de la Viole (2003) {3CD Box Set Alia Vox AV9829}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 869 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 378 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 102 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Alia Vox | AV 9829 A/C
Classical / Baroque / Viola da gamba

Jordi Savall's exquisite three-disc box set entitled Le Parnasse de la viole is devoted to the passionately expressive and virtuosic music of two great French Baroque composers, Sainte-Colombe the Younger and Marin Marais. The six suites by Sainte-Colombe adhere to the familiar form established by the end of the seventeenth century; each consists of such familiar dances as the allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, and gavotte.

The well-known Concert de la Loge, the period instruments orchestra led by the violinist Julien Chauvin, return with the third episode of Haydn’s journey in Paris.

Soprano Sandrine Piau has been known mostly as a Baroque specialist, but she has recorded several albums of 19th century French mélodies with spectacular results. Si j'ai aimé (the title comes from one of three songs by the little-known Théodore Dubois) will be very hard for her to outdo. The list of attractions is very long and begins with the repertory. There are some familiar pieces here, such as the opening pair of songs by Saint-Saëns, but many of the composers – Dubois, Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant – are rarely performed, at least outside France, and all the songs here are top-notch.

The Haydn series continues with the Paris Symphony no 87. Julien Chauvin and his orchestra keep shaking us up with historical instruments listening Haydn’s works and several other forgotten scores from the same period. All of them were commissioned for the Concert de la Loge Olympique - ancestor and model for Julien Chauvin and his musicians - and all of them sank into oblivion during the 19th century, except for Haydn’s symphonies. The release offers an opportunity to experience some rare works of Grétry, Lemoyne and Ragué and to revive the success that they once knew.