[HPM 004]

Italian or French? Jean Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli were the champions of these two musical styles – and the main subjects of the many attempts to establish which style was better. Or could the two styles be united? This programme paints a musical picture of the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe, through the music of Corelli, Lully, and their contemporaries. Chief among the reconcilers was the organist and composer Georg Muffat. German but of Scottish ancestry, it was he who introduced both styles to Germany. Also included are Rebel’s homage to Lully and Couperin’s to Corelli. In this vivid recording The Bach Players bring history to life.

availabilityin print
published2011.02.02
playing time78:52
£12.50
Cover of Italy versus France

Les pièces choisies, aux effectifs chambristes, demeurent intimistes et les musiciens ont choisi de mettre l’accent sur les entrelacs mélodiques et une douceur sensuelle et caressante, due au timbre velouté quoique grainé des cordes et à des articulations tendres et fluides. Il se dégage donc de l’intégralité du disque une atmosphère de boudoir élégant, sans superficialité, nimbé d’une extrême délicatesse, d’une fragilité heureuse. Ainsi, l’Ouverture du Bourgeois évite sciemment toute pompe majestueuse et trouve presque des accents dansants, tandis que le spleen désespéré des Tombeaux de M. Chambonnière ou de M. de Lully penchent plus vers la sérénité que vers la noire déploration. De même, la musette de Robert de Visée n’insiste pas sur le caractère champêtre ou rustique de la danse, et adopte un ton résolument curial et raffiné, qu’on retrouve tout au long de la Sonate de Couperin, ample et équilibrée.

Sébastien Holzbauer, Muse Baroque

This is the most enjoyable programme of seventeenth-century chamber music I have heard in a long time. The recording manages to capture the strings in gutty rather than silvery detail so we relax and enjoy the music without suffereing from steel-string fatigue. Altogether, this is a wonderfully diplomatic programme which brings the best out in everyone – French, Italian, German and performers alike.

Simon Heighes, International Record Review, May 2011

... beautifully judged performances …

Jan Smaczy, CD Review, BBC Radio 3, 14 May 2011

Album sample

A sample track of Italy versus France can be downloaded in MP3 format.

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