Archives des Records – Total Baroque Magazine

The first complete Demachy recording by Flore Seube

With her complete recording of Sieur Demachy’s “Pièces de violle”, Flore Seube gives voice once again to a mysterious figure of the Grand Siècle. The result of ten years of research and an intimate engagement with this repertoire, this recording reveals a sophisticated, lively, and refined style of viol music that balances textual fidelity, French sensibility, and the art of polyphony.

by Gabriel Davigneau 10 June 2026

CD – New Releases

Benjamin Alard

Bach: Chaconnes BWV 1178 & 1179

With this new release, Benjamin Alard adds two freshly authenticated works to his ambitious complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard music. Centred on two chaconnes recently restored to the Cantor, the French keyboard player continues his exploration of an instrumental world in which dance, variation and contrapuntal architecture come together in the same expressive concentration.

by Total Baroque 5 June 2026

CD – New Releases

Dmytro Kokoshynskyy

Music for These Troubled Times

With this first solo recording, harpsichordist Dmytro Kokoshynskyy offers far more than a journey through the golden age of the English virginalists. Centred on Tallis, Byrd, Bull, Gibbons and Dowland, among others, he builds an intimate meditation on music as refuge, remedy and mirror of troubled times, extended into our own day by KHORA by the composer Maxim Shalygin.

by Total Baroque 5 June 2026

CD – New Releases

Arnaud Marzorati & Les Lunaisiens

Jadis et Naguère

With this new album, the ensemble Les Lunaisiens, led by Arnaud Marzorati, reaffirms its mission: to bring the ancestral heritage of French chanson back into the spotlight. By presenting a history of France through its songs, the ensemble brings to light contrasting tales from different eras—sometimes dramatic, sometimes satirical—which bear witness to the richness and complexity of the popular vocal heritage.

by Total Baroque 1 June 2026

Pygmalion Sheds Light on Bach’s St John Passion

Record of the month

Pygmalion & Raphaël Pichon

Pygmalion Sheds Light on Bach’s St John Passion

From the very first bars, the “St John Passion” reveals itself like an old master painting freshly revarnished under the brush of Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion: the lines become firmer, the contrasts sharper, the light begins to circulate, revealing unexpected gleams and rough edges.

by Julien Delhom 27 May 2026

CD – New Releases

Marta Gawlas & Natalia Olczak

Women 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.

by Total Baroque 13 May 2026

CD – New Releases

Atsushi Sakai & Christophe Rousset

Bach: 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.

by Total Baroque 13 May 2026

CD – New Releases

Xavier Sabata & Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu

Furioso

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.

by Total Baroque 13 May 2026

CD – New Releases

Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset

Traetta: “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.

by Total Baroque 6 May 2026

CD – New Releases

Cappella Mediterranea & Leonardo García-Alarcón

La Passione di Gesù

With “La Passione di Gesù”, Leonardo García-Alarcón signs his first major oratorio published under his own name. Inspired by Borges, Bach, Pasolini and the Gospel of Judas, the work creates a spiritual and musical labyrinth in which Judas, Mary Magdalene and the risen Christ become the figures of an inner Passion.

by Total Baroque 5 May 2026

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

CD in four questions

Íliber Ensemble & Todos los Tonos y Ayres

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

Record of the month

Ensemble Théodora

“Tranquilles cœurs”

On this debut album, the Théodora ensemble takes listeners on a journey through France and the German-speaking world, from Lully and Campra to the Krieger brothers, where styles intersect and transform. Carried by a distinctive vocal palette and a finely articulated continuo, the recording highlights the variety of compositional approaches and characters.

by Rashid-S. Pegah 28 April 2026

Records

The first complete Demachy recording by Flore Seube

Bach: Chaconnes BWV 1178 & 1179

Music for These Troubled Times

Jadis et Naguère

Pygmalion Sheds Light on Bach’s St John Passion

Women composers

Bach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba

Furioso

Traetta: “Ifigenia in Tauride”

La Passione di Gesù

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

“Tranquilles cœurs”