This release by the small chamber ensemble
La Rêveuse
, essentially bass viol player
Florence Bolton
and theorbist/guitarist
Benjamin Perrot
with an expanded continuo group as needed, takes its title from the final movement of
Marin Marais
'
Suite pour viole et bass continue in E minor
, in which
Marais
paid tribute to his teacher, the reclusive and mysterious
M. de Sainte-Colombe
made famous by the film
Tous les matins du monde
.
Bolton
's annotations here are informative and delightful in sketching out the Parisian milieu in which this music arose. However, the music also speaks for itself, and the program as a whole is also a kind of tribute to
Sainte-Colombe
, showing just how influential his music was and how
' development of his style was crucial to the French High Baroque.
himself is represented by several pieces here, and one can hear the lines of influence particularly clearly in a pair of pieces representing bells, one by
and one by
. More generally, it seems to have been
who originated the idea of the pièce de caractère;
picked up this idea and ran with it, with profound consequences for the music of the next century and beyond.
and
Perrot
are smooth, rather deliberate players who don't lean into the mystery in this music, which is probably a good thing. Sample and decide, but hear the concluding
Voix des humaines
of
, which provides a nice meditative conclusion.
Harmonia Mundi
delivers exemplary sound from a Béguinage -- a home for lay, non-cloistered nuns in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. ~ James Manheim