Gabriel Davigneau – Total Baroque Magazine

“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

Subscribers

Gilles Joye, Between the Sublime and the Bawdy

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ClubMediéval & Thomas Baeté

Gilles Joye, Between the Sublime and the Bawdy

Long consigned to the margins of the 15th century, Gilles Joye is finally reclaiming the singular place he deserves in the musical landscape.

by Gabriel Davigneau 16 October 2025

Musical Confessions of a 17th Century Maiden

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La Néréide

Musical Confessions of a 17th Century Maiden

In their new album, French ensemble La Néréide imagines the voice of a young maiden at the 17th-century Saint-Cyr boarding school, reflecting the era’s conflicting impulses between religious conduct and earthly sensuality.

by Gabriel Davigneau 2 October 2025

Pictures of the Week

From Vache Baroque to Bayreuth: Europe’s Festivals in Celebration

This week, Europe’s festival season celebrated early music, from Vache Baroque to Bayreuth, Milan, Viterbo and Utrecht, spanning baroque opera, sacred polyphony and innovative productions.

by Gabriel Davigneau 11 September 2025

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A nocte temporis & Reinoud Van Mechelen

Clérambault with two faces

In his latest recording, Reinoud Van Mechelen explores the diversity of Clérambault’s musical language, moving between the brilliance of the Te Deum and the inwardness of the Histoire de la femme adultère.

by Gabriel Davigneau 8 September 2025