 | Listen to the first track of the album: "J'avois deja passe pres d'un jour sans la voir" |
Michel Lambert, Airs
Can an English singer and a Dutch theorbo player perform a French ruelle with the souplesse required? Here Charles Daniels and Fred Jacobs lay down the gauntlet and give an amazing intimate display of musicianship and subtlety.
Metronome announces a new CD and download release of the stunning “Airs” or Michel Lambert
Performed by Charles Daniels (tenor) and Fred Jacobs (French theorbo). This is a very rare release of repertoire largely ignored in the modern day partly for its highly technical ornamented style. To accompany Charles Daniels, one of the leading early music tenors in the world, at the peak of his form Fred Jacobs picks up a Michael Lowe reconstruction of a French theorbo and in an Anglo- Dutch alliance assails a style from the altesse of the French Court.
“Lambert, having tuned his theorbo, sang an air in his particular way which was admirably beautiful”. Thus the great poet and writer of fables Jean de La Fontaine evokes in Le Songe de Vaux the fascination inspired by the man who was recognised in his time as one of the most accomplished craftsmen of the art of the “ruelles”, those salons where one thought up and dashed off gallant verses while listening to music designed to elate the passions.”
An art form of dexterity, virtuosic singing and delicacy the “Airs de Cours” emerged as the key song form in the 17th century households of the French aristocracy. Michel Lambert (1610-1696) occupies a central position by virtue of the quantity (almost three hundred airs) and the quality of his output. Though he was a favourite figure in salons précieux, his career unfolded in the shelter of powerful patrons: Gaston d’Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIII and his daughter La Grande Mademoiselle, Cardinal Richelieu, surintendant Fouquet. In 1660 he obtains the post of “maître de la Chambre du Roi” at the same time as his son-in-law, the illustrious Jean-Baptiste Lully, attains the highest position in the King’s Music, that of “surintendant de la Chambre”.
This disc has an essay by the leading French scholar Catherine Massip on Lambert and the recordings themselves have the benefit of the input for contemporary 17th century French pronunciation Jean Sebastian Beauvais who at the launch in Utrecht on Monday 27th October will regale the audience with spoken renditions of this febrile, bucolic love poetry.
This release links the very earliest recordings of Metronome where Charles Daniels recorded with .the Orlando Consort , with the most recent releases of solo French theorbo music by another great composer for Louis XIV Robert de Visée which have met with such acclaim in UK, France and Holland. The first “Pièces de Théorbe” METCD1072 was released in 2008 and received enthusiastic reviews: “an absolutely splendid recording” (Early Music and in France “10” from Classica – Répertoire).
Fred Jacobs is a leading performer of the French theorbo. His discs and recitals as a soloist and accompanist have been well reviewed. He teaches the lute and the theorbo at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. In addition to these solo releases by Metronome, he also appears in the Locke Consort recordings of Matthew Locke released by Metronome.
Can an English singer and a Dutch theorbo player perform a French ruelle with the souplesse required? Here Charles Daniels and Fred Jacobs lay down the gauntlet and give an amazing intimate display of musicianship and subtlety.
Metronome announces a new CD and download release of the stunning “Airs” or Michel Lambert
Performed by Charles Daniels (tenor) and Fred Jacobs (French theorbo). This is a very rare release of repertoire largely ignored in the modern day partly for its highly technical ornamented style. To accompany Charles Daniels, one of the leading early music tenors in the world, at the peak of his form Fred Jacobs picks up a Michael Lowe reconstruction of a French theorbo and in an Anglo- Dutch alliance assails a style from the altesse of the French Court.
“Lambert, having tuned his theorbo, sang an air in his particular way which was admirably beautiful”. Thus the great poet and writer of fables Jean de La Fontaine evokes in Le Songe de Vaux the fascination inspired by the man who was recognised in his time as one of the most accomplished craftsmen of the art of the “ruelles”, those salons where one thought up and dashed off gallant verses while listening to music designed to elate the passions.”
An art form of dexterity, virtuosic singing and delicacy the “Airs de Cours” emerged as the key song form in the 17th century households of the French aristocracy. Michel Lambert (1610-1696) occupies a central position by virtue of the quantity (almost three hundred airs) and the quality of his output. Though he was a favourite figure in salons précieux, his career unfolded in the shelter of powerful patrons: Gaston d’Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIII and his daughter La Grande Mademoiselle, Cardinal Richelieu, surintendant Fouquet. In 1660 he obtains the post of “maître de la Chambre du Roi” at the same time as his son-in-law, the illustrious Jean-Baptiste Lully, attains the highest position in the King’s Music, that of “surintendant de la Chambre”.
This disc has an essay by the leading French scholar Catherine Massip on Lambert and the recordings themselves have the benefit of the input for contemporary 17th century French pronunciation Jean Sebastian Beauvais who at the launch in Utrecht on Monday 27th October will regale the audience with spoken renditions of this febrile, bucolic love poetry.
This release links the very earliest recordings of Metronome where Charles Daniels recorded with .the Orlando Consort , with the most recent releases of solo French theorbo music by another great composer for Louis XIV Robert de Visée which have met with such acclaim in UK, France and Holland. The first “Pièces de Théorbe” METCD1072 was released in 2008 and received enthusiastic reviews: “an absolutely splendid recording” (Early Music and in France “10” from Classica – Répertoire).
Fred Jacobs is a leading performer of the French theorbo. His discs and recitals as a soloist and accompanist have been well reviewed. He teaches the lute and the theorbo at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. In addition to these solo releases by Metronome, he also appears in the Locke Consort recordings of Matthew Locke released by Metronome.