Gabriel Davigneau – Total Baroque Magazine

In the 16th century, the harpsichord of the Emperor of China

From Spain’s Golden Age to China’s Forbidden City, El clave del Emperador retraces the singular destiny of Diego de Pantoja, a Jesuit, musician, and mediator between two worlds. With Íliber Ensemble and Todos los Tonos y Ayres, the recording brings together harpsichord, Chinese instruments, and learned traditions to transform historical inquiry into a true sonic journey.

by Gabriel Davigneau 4 May 2026

Rediscovering Brunetti: a Composer at the Court of Spain

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Concerto 1700 & Daniel Pinteño

Rediscovering Brunetti: a Composer at the Court of Spain

With his Concerto 1700, violinist Daniel Pinteño continues his exploration of 18th-century Spanish musical heritage. His latest recording of Gaetano Brunetti’s “String Quartets, Op. 3” reveals a court composer whose writing is both refined and full of wit.

by Gabriel Davigneau 8 April 2026

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Ensemble Irini & Lila Hajosi

JANUA, a gateway between East and West

With “JANUA”, the ensemble Irini and its director Lila Hajosi explore 15th-century vocal repertoires through a program built around Guillaume Dufay and Byzantine chant. An album that is both scholarly and sensory, inviting listeners to step outside conventional frameworks and open their ears to other forms of perception.

by Gabriel Davigneau 30 March 2026

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Les Surprises & Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas

A New Take on Tenebrae

What if the “Leçons de Ténèbres” recovered the sound of a male monastery? A darker interpretation that approaches the text differently and breaks with traditional codes.

by Gabriel Davigneau 11 February 2026

Records

Concerto Soave

Campra and Bernier: a shared psalm

Concerto Soave brings together the two Venite, exultemus settings by Campra and Bernier, highlighting the techniques that shaped the French motet at the dawn of the eighteenth century: Italianate writing, rhetorical contrasts, text-painting, and an interplay of forces that reveals each composer’s unique voice.

by Gabriel Davigneau 2 February 2026

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Martin Gester

18 Bach Poems for a Desert Island

With the 18 Leipzig Chorales, Bach brings together, at the end of his life, a fully realized reflection on the organ, the chorale, and counterpoint. On the Thomas organ in Namur, Martin Gester approaches these pages as a space for sonic invention, playing with styles, colours, and balances to create a dialogue between learned elaboration and expressive intensity.

by Gabriel Davigneau 26 January 2026

“The Four Nations”: A Vivaldi Recomposed

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Ensemble Caprice & Matthias Maute

“The Four Nations”: A Vivaldi Recomposed

With “The Four Nations”, Matthias Maute and Ensemble Caprice offer an inventive tribute to Vivaldi: a project of composition and recreation that blends scholarship, imagination, and baroque energy.

by Gabriel Davigneau 20 January 2026

Singing the Dead: William Lawes According to Robin Pharo

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Ensemble Près de votre oreille

Singing the Dead: William Lawes According to Robin Pharo

With his ensemble Près de votre oreille (“Near your ear“), gamba player Robin Pharo devotes his new album Lighten mine eies to the singular world of William Lawes. Through elegies, psalms, and Harp Consorts, he explores the English composer’s daring dissonances and the shifting boundary between restitution, re-creation, and memory, in a project where research […]

by Gabriel Davigneau 12 January 2026

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Il Pomo d’Oro & Giuseppe Maletto

The radiance of a Venetian Christmas

With Natale Veneziano, Giuseppe Maletto and the choir of Il Pomo d’Oro rekindle the splendour of Venetian Christmas music, balancing liturgical fervour with musical daring. A luminous journey into the worlds of Gabrieli, Schütz, Monteverdi, and Cavalli, revealing the boundless creativity of Baroque Venice.

by Gabriel Davigneau 24 December 2025

Pictures of the Week

Tokyo, Oviedo, Berlin, Florence, Paris, Stockholm

From Tokyo to Stockholm, via Oviedo, Paris and Berlin, the world’s stages have been alive with music this week. Notable debuts, unexpected returns, new creations and heartfelt tributes: a visual tour of the moments that shaped the musical news.

by Gabriel Davigneau 11 December 2025

Dialogues of Organ and Viola at Versailles

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Thomas Ospital

Dialogues of Organ and Viola at Versailles

At the Great Organ of Versailles, Thomas Ospital and l’ensemble Saint-Honoré pay tribute to composers, from Guilain to Marchand, Morel to Marais. A journey into the heart of the Grand Siècle’s legacy.

by Gabriel Davigneau 10 November 2025

Charles VI or the Soundtrack of a Kingdom in Crisis

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Into the Winds & Adrien Reboisson

Charles VI or the Soundtrack of a Kingdom in Crisis

A sonic plunge into the heart of French kingdom in chaos: Into the Winds returns to transform the story of Charles VI, French king also called the “mad king”, into a striking musical fresco.

by Gabriel Davigneau 6 November 2025