London circa 1720: Corelli's Legacy

La Rêveuse, Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton

Paru le 18/09/2020 chez harmonia mundi
Artistes principaux : La Rêveuse Benjamin Perrot Florence Bolton
Genre : Classique
Distinctions : Diapason d'or

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French Baroque ensemble La Rêveuse's first project for harmonia mundi (having hopped over from Mirare) is a celebration of the London's music scene during the first two decades of the eighteenth century – a time when dwindling royal patronage had sparked off a new cultural economy based on public concerts and the widespread amateur music-making these inspired, establishing the city as an international epicentre for cultural vibrancy and innovation, and thus the obvious destination for any musician wanting to make their fortune. Especially the Italians, off the back of the British mania for Corelli's Opus 6 collection of concerti grossi.

Of course, much as that premise has all the potential for a sparkling recording, it's still eminently possible to end up with something sounding no different to any other Baroque concerto programme, so it's a joy to discover that not only does La Rêveuse's offering genuinely fizz, but also that it sounds genuinely distinctive; the former quality being down to their playing's combination of lucid-textured joyous energy and supple technical elegance (plus some wonderfully immediate and luminous engineering), and the latter thanks to them having mostly eschewed the Italian violin concertos everyone usually reaches for in favour of concertos for one of multiple recorders, plus repertoire for viola da gamba – an instrument which had largely had its day on the professional scene by this point, but which was still enthusiastically played by amateurs.

Consequently their curtain-raiser is William Babell's magnificent Concerto II Op. 3 for sixth flute (a bright-sounding Baroque recorder sitting closest in size and range to the standard soprano/descent), which would have been played in theatres during opera intervals. Here it sounds nothing less than ravishing, luminous-toned duetting violins poetically setting the scene before Sébastien Marq's recorder soars in gracefully over the top to begin its songful chirruping.

Two further recorder-shaped highlights come from the pen of Johann Christian Schickhardt. First chamber music in the form of a sprightly performance of his reworking of Corelli Op. 6 movements into a trio for two alto recorders and continuo, aimed at the amateur musician market; then his own Concerto II Op. 19 for two recorders and two traverso flutes, played here with sublime tones and blending.

La Rêveuse then take the genius decision to end not with another operatic shout, but instead with opera music recast for home music making: Haymarket Theatre bassoonist Pietro Chaboud's intimate bass viol and continuo arrangement of Nicola Francesco Haym's soulful aria, “Thus with thirst my souls expiring”, delectably brought off here by ensemble directors Florence Bolton on viol and Benjamin Perrot on theorbo. Highly recommended. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz

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London circa 1720: Corelli's Legacy

La Rêveuse

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Concerto No. II for sixth flute in D Major, Op. 3: I. Adagio - Allegro