Music for Lady Louise: Blow, Purcell, Lully, Locke

by Lucile Tessier, Ensemble Leviathan

Overview

Ensemble Leviathan was founded by Baroque wind player Lucile Tessier to bring to life her research into the influence of French music on English theater music of Henry Purcell's time and just before. In this, Music for Lady Louise succeeds admirably in this goal; the program is divided into four sections -- Rustick Music, Soft Music, Mad Songs, and Mourning Songs -- with French and English pieces in each. In most places, it would take a keen ear indeed to identify the singers as anything other than native English speakers, but that is just the beginning of the list of delights in this album, which far outdoes almost every other release with scholarly origins. There is the loose narrative linking the music to the titular Lady Louise, Louise de Kerouaille, maid of honor to Henriette-Anne, Duchess of Orleans, who became the mistress of England's King Charles II and played a role in the political intrigues of the era. The album forms a kind of counterpart to Sting's Songs for the Labyrinth three-quarters of a century later. There is also the playing of Tessier, whose recorder work is adept indeed, and whose Baroque oboes and bassoons have highly exotic sounds (sample the almost techno-like sonorities of the excerpt from Lully's Alceste, ou le Triomphe d'Alcide). Lastly, although listeners will discover more to love, there are the lively interpretations of the singers, whom Tessier likens to the singer-actors of American musicals. To this end, Tessier includes some comic songs (like Forth from the dark and dismal cell) that will be new even to Baroque vocal music buffs. With excellent sound from the Salle Cortot in Paris, this is a specialized release that is thoroughly enjoyable for anybody. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	11/18/2022
Label:	Harmonia Mundi
UPC:	3149020946657
Rank:	190720

Tracks

1. Venus and Adonis~Come Shepherds All
2. Alceste ou le Triomphe d'Alcide, LWV 50~Air pour les p¿¿cheurs
3. Atys, LWV 53~Que l'on chante
4. Le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles, LWV 38~Bourr¿¿e
5. The Tempest~Lilk
6. Hence With Your Trifling Deity (from "Timon of Athens", Z. 632)
7. De Foolish English Nation (from "The Comical History of Don Quixote")
8. Venus and Adonis~In These Sweet Groves
9. Atys, LWV 53~Dormons, dormons tous
10. Bonduca, or the British Heroine, Z. 574~Aire
11. Bonduca, or the British Heroine, Z. 574~Hornpipe
12. Theodosius, or The Force of Love, Z. 606~Prepare, the Rites Begin
13. See, Even Night Herself Is Here (from "The Fairy Queen", Z. 629)
14. A New Song Sung by a Fop Newly Come From France
15. Venus and Adonis~Tune for flutes
16. Venus and Adonis~Venus! Adonis!
17. Psyche~Symphony for the Descending of Venus
18. Roland, LWV 65~Que ces gazons sont verts!
19. Psyche~Song of the Devils and the Furies
20. Alceste ou le Triomphe d'Alcide, LWV 50~Air de la f¿¿te infernale
21. Forth From the Dark and Dismal Cell
22. Oh! Take Him Gently From the Pile (from "Cyrus the Great, or The Tragedy of Love")
23. Atys, LWV 53~Ciel! Quelle vapeur m'environne
24. An Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell~Hark! How the Lark and Linnet Sing

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lucile Tessier   Primary Artist,Baroque Oboe,Bassoon,Recorder
Ensemble Leviathan   Primary Artist,Ensemble
Davy Cornillot   Tenor (Vocal)
Eugenie Lefebvre   Soprano (Vocal)
David Witczak   Bass (Vocal)
Clement Debieuvre   Counter Tenor (Vocal)

Technical Credits

Henry Purcell   Composer
Nathaniel Lee   Text
John Banks   Text
Amanda Eubanks Winkler   Liner Notes
Dennis Collins   Liner Note Translation,Text Translation
Lucile Tessier   Liner Notes
Jean-Baptiste Lully   Composer
Matthew Locke   Composer
William Shakespeare   Text
John Blow   Composer
Charles Johnston   Text Translation,Liner Note Translation
John Eccles   Composer
Pierre Mignard   Cover Art
Philippe Quinault   Text
Derek Yeld   Text Translation
John Dryden   Text
Anonymous   Composer
Aphra Behn   Text
Thomas Shadwell   Text
Samuel Akeroyde   Composer
Brigitte Barchasz   Text Translation
Diego Salamanca   Photography
Anne Kingsmill   Text
Marie-Ange Carrez   Assistant Engineer
Mathilde Genas   Editing,Engineer,Mastering,Artistic Director