Marin MARAIS: Pièces de viole, Livre 4, Suite d’un Goût Etranger: L’Arabesque – Pièces de Viole, Livre 2: La Florentine – L’Italiène – Caprice – Jean BARRIÈRE: 6 Cello Sonatas, Livre 1, Sonata No. 2 in G Minor: I. Andante – II. Allemanda – Allegro – III. Adagio – IV. Aria Gratioso – Francesco GEMINIANI: Pièces de Clavecin: Tendrement, H.203 – Pièces de Clavecin: Vivement, H.204 – François COUPERIN: Les Goûts-réunis, Concert XII: I. Pointé-coulé – II. Badinage – III. Lentement et patétiquement – V. Air. Gracieusement et légèrement – Arcangelo CORELLI: Sonate da chiesa a tre in E Minor, Op. 3, No. 7: I. Grave – II. Allegro – III. Adagio – IV. Allegro – Antonio VIVALDI: Cello Sonata in G Minor, RV 42: I. Preludio. Largo – II. Allemanda. Andante – III. Sarabanda. Largo – IV. Gigue. Allegro – Jean BARRIÈRE: 6 Cello Sonatas, Livre 3, Sonata No. 4 in B-Flat Major: I. Andante – II. Allegro – III. Adagio – IV. Allegro

Ensemble Art of Nature: (Website)
Esmé de Vries, Viola da gamba & Cello
Oleguer Aymamí, Viola da gamba & Cello
Hadrien Jourdan, Harpsichord
Cecilia Knudtsen, Violone

Dialogue

Dialogue, that beautiful word. Dialogue, a practice which is tragically being lost these days. Dialogue evokes discussion, exchange, the intimacy of tête-à-tête conversations, or even the Dialogues of Plato in which the truth emerges from the interaction of two different points of view. Here, the two protagonists are the French and the Italian music styles of the late 17th to early 18th centuries, expressed through two instruments: the viola da gamba and the cello. Were it not for the fact that competition is not the aim here, this recording could have been titled Duels, in reference to the practice of virtuoso competitions between two instrumentalists or composers common in the 17th and 18th centuries. Both Esmé de Vries and Oleguer Aymamí play the cello and the viola da gamba. And they play their two instruments with the same passion for each, not preferring one over the other.

The dialogues on this recording take place at two crossroads. First, the rivalry in France between two styles (or tastes), the Italian and French styles. And second, the struggle for the survival of the viola da gamba in the face of “the pretensions of the cello.” From the end of the 16th century and throughout the 17th century, Italian music gradually influenced the music of all of Europe. The great Italian innovators—led by Monteverdi—their operas, their writings, and their instrumental techniques spread far and wide, first to the German states and then to Paris.

Esmé de Vries and the Ensemble Art of Nature

CD-1720 Booklet.pdf