Forqueray/Marais/Sainte-Colombe/Heudelinne: Fanfaronade

"Fanfaronade" is a French expression from the 18th century and means something like "arrogant boasting". The repertoire on the new CD by Juliane Laake and her ensemble Art d'Echo was largely created at the court of a ruler who declared himself to be the sun-like center of the universe - a fanfaronade like no other, which certainly rubbed off on his court musicians. Antoine Forqueray was a musical prodigy. At just 17 years of age he was appointed court gambist in Paris. He was highly favored by the entire court nobility and his contemporaries already agreed that he was the greatest gambist of his generation. His compositions are surprisingly unconventional and spectacularly virtuosic. Marin Marais was a student of the then famous gambist and gambi teacher Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. This enigmatic personality, about whose life almost nothing is known, who held no court or ecclesiastical office, went down in music history as the father of the French gamba school and produced a whole generation of outstanding gambists. Marais, whose undisputed crown, was able to take up the coveted position of royal court gambist at the age of 23. He published five books full of exquisite gambist works and eventually became conductor of the royal opera.

Unlike Forqueray, Marais did not seek to overwhelm his audience with amazement and horror, but to delight and even enchant them with perfect elegance and refinement. We know almost nothing about Louis Heudelinne's life, not even his exact dates of birth. Only his small, fine oeuvre bears witness to him and his art. This requires not only mastery of familiar gambist difficulties but also virtuoso fluency on the violin. His extremely beautiful and elaborate work, the first printed collection of solo treble viola da gamba music, did not, however, elicit the slightest response from his contemporaries. So it remains something of an insider tip in the extremely rich French viola da gamba repertoire.

1: La Leclair
2: Allemande La Laborde
3: La Bouron
4: Loes Voix Humaines
5: Le Regente
6: La Tronchin
7: Concert XLIV Les Regrets a Deux Violes Esgales
8: I. Prelude
9: II. Allemande
10: III. Double
11: IV. Courante
12: V. Sarabande Grave
13: VI. Gigue
14: Les Folies D'Espagne

Composer: Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe, Louis Heudelinne, Antoine Forqueray

Number of Discs: 1

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.