Articles by Total Baroque
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Marta Gawlas & Natalia OlczakWomen composers
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, the child prodigy of Louis XIV’s court, is familiar enough; Anna Bon and Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, musicians connected with the Bayreuth milieu and with the flute, an instrument dear to Frederick II, are heard less often. With Compositrices, the flautist Marta Gawlas brings these three figures together in a single gesture: to reveal, without any heavy-handed manifesto, the refinement of their writing and the inventiveness of women composers still too rarely represented on disc. A luminous way into a repertoire waiting to be rediscovered.
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Atsushi Sakai & Christophe RoussetBach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba
We may think we know Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord; here, Atsushi Sakai and Christophe Rousset restore them to their share of mystery. Works that are hard to place, whether a genuine cycle or a gathering of independent pieces, they become here a space of close dialogue between viol and harpsichord, between contrapuntal rigour, inner song and meditation.
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Xavier Sabata & Le Concert de l’Hostel DieuFurioso
Orlando furioso never ceased to exert its pull on the Baroque imagination. With “Furioso”, Xavier Sabata, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu and Franck-Emmanuel Comte offer a concentrated journey through it, in which Ariosto’s hero appears by turns as knight, lost lover, figure of fury and wavering soul. An album built like an inner theatre.
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Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe RoussetTraetta: “Ifigenia in Tauride”
We all know “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Gluck; here is the rarer setting by Tommaso Traetta, brought to disc by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. Recorded in Innsbruck, this release brings to light a different musical reading of the myth, poised between the legacy of opera seria and emerging dramatic priorities, and carried by a committed vocal cast. A discovery.
