The Bach dynasty : Works by Johann Sebastian, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach

6 suites for solo cello – 3 sonatas for harpsichord obbligato

(1-4 musicians )

This program will help to enter the intimacy of the Bach family, one of the most riveting German dynasties in the 18th century. Through the evolution of sonata forms (solo, duo, trio), the chosen works bear similarities but also show a great rupture within language between the father, Jean-Sebastien Bach (Grand Master of the Baroque genre) and two of his sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel, nourished by the Enlightenment philosophy and pioneers of the Empfinsamkeit and Sturm und Drang movements.

17 november 2017 : Les soirées musicales de Grimaud – Grimaud
08 october 2017 : Théâtre des Champs-Élysées – Paris
25 january 2016 : Radio France Festival – Montpellier

A cello in Baroque Italy

Works by Ortiz, Frescobaldi, Jacchini, Vivaldi

(7-8 musicians)

This program proposes a musical trajectory filled with Italian composers’ works, which has marked the move of the cello traditional use during the 16th century to the concertante music repertoire during the 18th century.

Antonio Vivaldi : Concertos

Cello & violin concertos

(4 musicians)

“Thus they sing like angels and play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello, and bassoon. In short, there is no instrument so large that they would fear it” wrote Charles Burney, visiting Venice, about the orphan girls of the Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi taught for nearly twenty years.

Through this programme, Pulcinella, which owes its name to a colourful character from the archetypically Venetian commedia dell’arte, proposes discovering all facets of Vivaldi’s art of the concerto: extreme virtuosity, the beautiful sonority of instruments made in the Venetian region, so highly prized by collectors – the Francesco Goffriller of 1737 played by Ophélie Gaillard is one the finest specimens, contrasts of lights and dynamics, the art of the dance and bel canto, display of emotions up to the limits of madness with La Follia.

Fandangos, jacaras anr follias

Works by Vivaldi, Sanz, Padre Soler, Boccherini

(7 musicians)

Variations on Les folies d’Espagne, born in the early 18th century (Corelli in Rome, then Vivaldi in Venice), sculpt this theme, varying it over a basso ostinato, like a journey close to a trance, whilst coming under the sign of virtuosity, grace and elegance. Then Sanz’s Canarios, written towards the end of the 17th century, coming from the Canary Islands and featuring virtuosic, scholarly writing with thoroughly aristocratic subtleties, influenced by the oral tradition. Jácaras next, those frenzied dances between ternary and binary and open to improvisation, exploring the plurality of folk influences inherited from the American and African colonies. Finally, the Fandango, a dance both sensual and energetic, born c.1750 in the underprivileged classes before spreading to all the European courts. Herein, the Castilian, African, Amerindian and Arab-Andalusian cultures meet up, and this would nurture the future developments of flamenco.

21 january 2017 : La Barbacane – Beynes