Marais & Forqueray: La Gamme (et autres morceaux de simphonie)
Trio Sonnerie: Monica Huggett (baroque violin), Emilia Benjamin (viola da gamba) & James Johnstone (harpsichord)
Huggett's playing is pliant and effortless, her distinctive sound very much the ensemble's hallmark. Gambist Emilia Benjamin makes light work of Marais's virtuoso passagework...while James Johnson...
Marais & Forqueray: La Gamme (et autres morceaux de simphonie)
Trio Sonnerie: Monica Huggett (baroque violin), Emilia Benjamin (viola da gamba) & James Johnstone (harpsichord)
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Huggett's playing is pliant and effortless, her distinctive sound very much the ensemble's hallmark. Gambist Emilia Benjamin makes light work of Marais's virtuoso passagework...while James Johnson...
About
‘La Gamme (et autres morceaux de simphonie)’ heralds the return of Sonnerie to the trio format and marks their debut recording on Linn Records.
The all-French programme of music by composers Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray recalls the Songs of the Auvergne and the beautiful French countryside.
Trio Sonnerie delivers an expertly phrased and highly nuanced performance of Marias’ La Gamme.
Marais’ contemporary Forqueray provides a welcome addition to the programme. His own prowess on the viol inspired his fiendishly virtuosic Suite No. 1 which stretched the performers to achieve new heights.
Each performer has the opportunity to shine with the clean, crisp lines leaving no room for anything other than top notch playing.
Trio Sonnerie (Monica Huggett director & violin, Emilia Benjamin viola da gamba and James Johnstone harpsichord) is one of the longest established and most highly regarded chamber groups working in Europe today.
Trio Sonnerie and Sonnerie, its alter ego, has made countless recordings and played in most national and international early music festivals.
The musicians bring to this repertoire ‘playing of real elegance’ (The Independent) and ‘one could even go as far as to say musical bliss!’ (The Times).
Contents and tracklist
- Sonnerie
- Recorded: 7-9 June 2011
- Recording Venue: St. Mary’s Church, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom
- Sonnerie
- Recorded: 7-9 June 2011
- Recording Venue: St. Mary’s Church, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom
- Sonnerie
- Recorded: 7-9 June 2011
- Recording Venue: St. Mary’s Church, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom
Awards and reviews
July 2013
Huggett's playing is pliant and effortless, her distinctive sound very much the ensemble's hallmark. Gambist Emilia Benjamin makes light work of Marais's virtuoso passagework...while James Johnson [sic] offers robust, sinewy playing on an opulent-toned copy of a late 18th-century harpsichord...these gracious accounts rarely fail to please.
April 2013
Monica Huggett loses no time in asserting the brilliance of the violin, then fashionable in Paris, over the bass viol, playing here in subdued fashion by Emilia Benjamin.
1st July 2013
The music on this disc bears witness to the high standard of music-making and performing in the time of Louis XIV. Trio Sonnerie - which derived its name from Marais's piece played here - feels like a fish in water. The playing is superb, technically assured and with an impressive command of the idiom.
