Two CD reviews of  Lady Sings the Viol – The Marais Project, directed by Jennifer Eriksson

Lady Sings the Viol – CD review by Janet Norman

‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’ was my first thought when I saw this CD, ‘Lady Sings The Viol – 700 Years of Songs for Voice and Viols’ by the Marais Project.  On the cover is a cut out of the portrait of Madame Anne-Henriette, the daughter of Louis XV of France by Jean-Marc Nattier.  This is the lady to whom Jean-Baptiste Forqueray dedicated the publication of his father’s ‘Pieces de Viole avec la Basse Continue’, in the hope of royal endorsement for the works. But alas no pieces by Forqueray on this CD!

Instead it is a collection of diverse pieces featuring principally the viol, but with other sympathetic instruments, accompanying the voices of Mara Kiek, Narelle Evans, Belinda Mongomery, Nicole Thomson.

Not all the pieces are accompanying a voice but the viol playing of Jenny Eriksson et al imitates the voice and I guess the ambiguity of the title of this CD really implies that it truly is Jenny ‘singing the viol’ and the voices are accompanying her!

And not only is it a collection of music covering 700 years, but also a collection covering a range of countries and genres.  All the pieces seem to be united with a similar timbre and tempo, no surprises here, each piece following seamlessly on to the next.  The CD concludes with a rather cute rendition of Chattanooga Choo Choo – viols swing!!

The notes by Philip Pogson and Jennifer Eriksson are personal, chatty and informative and reflect the overall tenor of the CD.  I particularly liked the photo of Jenny bowing a sapling while her viol waits patiently on a wicker chair – now what’s that all about?

This CD is certainly easy on the ear.  The overall effect is a beautiful seductive sound with a dream-like quality reminiscent of candlelight dinners, red roses and red wine and other places where easy listening is required.

Worth listening to.

Janet Norman

ooooooo

Lady Sings the Viol      – CD review by Barbara Williams.

Often beautifully played and sung, with expert musicians, and full of lush arrangements; yet a little uneven to my ear. Cabaret songs made famous by Piaf mostly work well,  (especially “Padam Padam”, delicious!) as does the Elena Kats-Chernin “Revolving Door” originally for piano solo.

The CD contains quite little ‘early’ music, and the only Marais, 2 small Muzettes sound rather heavy and overloaded with the plucked instruments, as do several other tracks.  The single viol quartet, Dorick Fantasy by Bull,  is beautifully played. Texts in French, Catalan, and Quechua present some challenges with no translations. The Swedish piece, fortunately, is a ‘song without words’.

Two pieces to me do not work: ‘Cavatina / She was beautiful’, and Schubert ‘Ave Maria’. The latter sounds very thin to someone used to Schubert’s piano part. But it is known that Schubert kept his guitar with him always, and thus may have played it similarly himself. Plucked strings seem to overpower the voices in the Aranes ‘Chacona’, and the viols in the Italian ground, so it was all quite peaceful but a bit under-defined.

The really early piece, “Bryd one brere” is developed from its original brief melody-only unique source: getting a whole bourree ‘nachtanz’, very creative! yet to me the voice grates; perhaps I am just used to a sweeter approach.

Their first CD, Viol Dreaming, 2007, is more what we expect to hear, and know we will enjoy. Two specially commissioned modern pieces were included there, but the main fare was historic. So, for instance, the theorbo is robust but perfectly matched to the viols in Marais – all very satisfying. However, one must commend an artist like Jenny for bringing the viol into modern times, extending its repertoire, and opening our ears and minds to possibilities of our well-loved “historic’ instruments.

BCW

The post Two Reviews of “Lady Sings the Viol” from the Early Music Society of Victoria newsletter, 2 May 2013 appeared first on Marais Project.

In their 4th studio recording, the ensemble, led by gambist, founder and Music Director Jennifer Erkisson has gathered an ensemble of 5 female voices (Belinda Montgomery, Nicole Thomson, Megan Cronin, Narelle Evans, Mara Kiek) and 10 period instrumentalists to record an anthology of 15 songs which span seven hundred years from as far back as the 1300s, through to the 20th century. Eriksson aims to prove that the gamba can not only straddle the ages, but can also break out of its its stylistic mould.

Performing in differing smaller combinations, the instrumental players include 5 gambists (Eriksson herself, Imogen Granwal, Shaun Ng, Catherine Upex, Daniel Yeadon) a violinist (Fiona Ziegler), theorbo/guitarist (Tommie Andersson), percussionist (Jess Ciampa), harpist (Alex Cronin) and gittern player (Llew Kiek). The range of instruments offers the opportunity to present music from its very origins as well as to tilt at the unexpected.

Eriksson comments: “The last CDs we’ve made have been of fairly serious music. I wanted to record a collection of more relaxed music that would reach a wider audience, so we’ve taken covers from different popular songs through the times.”

Voice, gittern and gamba come together to perform the earliest of these – Bryd one brere c 1300, Anon.; there’s music by John Bull from the 16th century, played by a consort of four viols, Muzettes from the 17th century master, Marin Marais, grounds and a Chaconne by Juan Aranes (d 1649).

By this time in history, changes in instrument making and materials, relegated the viol to the status of a dinosaur, unable to keep pace with evolutionary changes. The music written after the 17th century and performed by the early instruments is quite novel to hear.

Schubert’s (1797 – 1828) intensely romantic Ave Maria acquires a plaintive beauty, introduced on the gamba by Jennifer Eriksson and Tommie Andersson on an 1820s guitar, then taken up by soprano Belinda Montgomery; other more recent compositions which need more substantial forces and a richer texture are bulked up with well matched voices and the addition of instruments. Narelle Evans’  work as a cabaret singer is well suited to her rendition of Padam Padam the torch song made famous by Edith Piaf performed with violin, 3 gambas and 1820s classical guitar. Belinda Montgomery delivers a more lyrical version of another Piaf classic La vie en rose with classical guitar and 2 gambas. Then there’s an instrumental track, Elena Kats-Chernin’s Revolving Doors, (arranged by Tommie Andersson) and the Stanley Myers classic She was beautiful. Perhaps the boldest cover is the Harry Warren/Mack Gordon classic Chattanooga Choo Choo (arranged By Dan Walker) which Glenn Miller played  as big band classic. It takes on a gentle swing and a very apt vintage sound performed by 2 gambas, theorbo, snare drum and 3 voices in tight harmony.

The opportunities of the recording studio are a boon for an ensemble such as this, allowing balance and amplification to create sounds and perform repertoire that may not work in a recital hall. Eriksson says that the balance followed natural confluence of sound. ” The viol is very close in character to the  voice so that was easy to match. The plucked instruments like the harp and the theorbo are soft and their sound also blend well with the gamba and voice.”

She continues, talking about matching the voices with the repertoire: on Lady Sings the Viol. “Belinda Montgomery is a  classically trained soprano who has done the most work with The Marais Project. She does a lot of baroque singing.  Her voice fitted the style that I wanted for Ave Maria and La vie en rose. Narelle Evans does a lot of cabaret and rock so we chose her for her more throaty voice. Mara Kiek specialises in Bulgarian singing using a lot of chest voice so she sings the 13C English love song. Nicole Thomson is also classically trained. They’re all singers with whom I’ve worked before and it was just a matter of choosing some of our favourite songs for the CD.”

Shamistha de Soysa for SoundsLikeSydney©

Listen to an excerpt here.

Lady Sings the Viol- The Marais Project. MCD 481 $25 plus postage.

Click here to buy on line.

Track List

1. Padam Padam – Norbert Glanzberg
2. Revolving Doors – Elena Kats-Chernin
3. La vie en rose – Louis Guglielmi
4. Ave Maria – Franz Schubert
5. Chacoña- Juan Arañés
6. Italian Ground – Anon.
7. Hanacpachap cussicuinin – Anon
8. Dorick Fantasy No.1 – John Bull
9. She was beautiful – Stanley Myers
10. Muzette I & II- Marin Marais
11. So ell encina – John Paul Jones
12. Bryd one brere – Anon.
13. Bryd bouree – Anon.
14. Låt till Far (song to my father)- Pers Erik Olsson
15. Chattanooga Choo Choo – Harry Warren

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Expectations

Rehearsing with Kate Clark

How can I describe my 5 weeks in a physically beautiful place that has been set up to “inspire creativity”?  Where surrounded by over 40 musicians and many other artists from different disciplines we were all able to focus on the one thing we held in common – making this world a better place through art?  I don’t feel I have the skills to tell the story but I will do my best.

As I approached Banff Township which sits almost 5000 feet up in the Canadian Rocky Mountains I was overwhelmed by the spectacular scenery. I had this amazing feeling of expectation that I was going to experience something very special. On arrival at the Banff Centre I was immediately greeted by reception, taken to my living quarters and given an artist card. This card allowed me to eat in the dining area and also gave me access to the well-equipped fitness centre which had a swimming pool, gym, yoga classes, etc. I was now set to go.

First days

On waking the next day I met the music coordinator and received the program for the week.  Most importantly, I took possession of the key to my personal “hut,” which was the place I would spend a lot of my time over the coming weeks.  My hut was set in the forest not unlike the great viola da gambist Sainte Colombe’s practice room depicted in the movie “Tous les matin du monde”. I could imagine the young Marin Marais, Sainte Colombe’s estranged student, secretly listening to his idol practicing the viol from underneath the veranda as the legend goes.

It felt good to look out the window at the surrounding snow capped mountains while the snow fell. I was struck by the stillness and the quietness of my surroundings. There was no background noise.

The Short Term Residency

The short term music residency I was accepted into was more structured than I had imagined. For example, there was a Monday morning meeting where all musicians got together which also featured an occasional guest speaker. During the week there were 2 quite formal concerts: Wednesdays at 4.30pm, a so-called “Mid Week Medley” and an evening concert on Friday night. These both took place in the Rolston Recital Hall, a beautiful, acoustically sensitive hall. I was told that many artists have used this hall for recording. Musicians from the residency would present pieces they had been working on at these concerts while visiting faculty would also perform.

I was lucky that there was a fantastic harpsichordist in residence, Katelyn Clark from Montreal. Kate and I practiced most days together for three weeks, working through the repertoire I was preparing for my recital back in Australia. We performed a Caix d’Hervelois suite together on a Friday night.  Kate and I also joined up with an Australian violinist, Christina Katsimbardis, to present a Corelli violin Sonata. I hope to continue these partnerships in future.

Australia was well represented at these concerts which included the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Black Milk Trio and violinist Liisa Pallandi.

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon there were self directed concerts in a more relaxing venue, the “Bentley”. These concerts were mostly given by groups who were already formed and working together professionally.  It offered them a great opportunity to prepare for upcoming tours.

On Tuesday evenings Henk Guitttart, the Dutch violist and Banff’s music director, or one of the visiting faculty, gave a talk or showed a DVD. I enjoyed these sessions which often ended up in heated discussions in Maclab, the on-site pub. Henk would try and tie these evenings in with up and coming performances. We got to see a great DVD on Artie Shaw, who Henk had met. There were so many facts I found out about this iconic Jazz muso. He stopped playing at 45 to become an author, his last concert was in Australia, he used harpsichord in one of his bands and he had 8 wives!

The whole atmosphere at residency in Banff was incredible and I think this was created by Henk’s outstanding leadership. There was no actual or hidden hierarchy, no “in cliques”, which in my view can be the bane of classical music. It didn’t matter if you had just finished your first music degree, had won an international competition, were recording a CD or someone like me who had been in the music game for decades – we were all equal.

Early music, the gamba and Banff

I found it refreshing to be around musicians who were for the most part not early music specialists. To have input from such a variety of artists, string quartets, piano trios, opera singers and faculty was invaluable.

Marin Marais

It was interesting that few musicians at Banff had ever seen or heard a viola da gamba in the flesh. Viol playing colleagues, we should be appalled at this fact!  There was a very special moment when I volunteered to be examined by a physiotherapist while playing in front of a room full of musical colleagues. I selected a Muzette by Marais and as I played you could have heard a pin drop.  Afterwards the whole place applauded – something they did not do for the other volunteers. I’d like to say it was me they were enthusiastic about but I suspect it was the power of the music and the pure, stark beauty of the unaccompanied bass viol. A visiting faculty member, Hardy Rittner, a German concert pianist came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on my sound. I said it was my beautiful instrument and the music but he stopped me and looked me straight in the eye and said, “No, it was you who made the beautiful sound”. These moments are rare in a musician life. As I walked around for the rest of the day I felt an inner glow…..I am still feeling it now.

Another highlight was performing minimalist Terry Riley’s famous “In C”… never common fare for a viola da gambist!

The beauty surrounding us

We were encouraged to take time to be inspired by the beauty around us and the mountains which soared to 12,000 feet. For me this took place in my daily runs, my numerous climbs up the spectacular Tunnel Mountain, my snow shoeing at Lake Louise and probably the greatest day of all, a half marathon run on the frozen Bow River. (Yes ON the frozen river, not alongside it!)

The mountains and me

One thing I noticed about Banff is that there was not a morning and an afternoon in the way we experience it in Australia.  As I was there in mid-winter the day seemed very short and we had to grab onto it quickly. One of my great joys was to get up every morning at sunrise (7.30am) and go for a 10 km run in the snow around town. It took a while to work out the appropriate clothing which finally I did, 2 layers of everything and a balaclava. It took 15 minutes to get dressed every morning but it was worth it. Fortunately there was a heat wave in Banff while I was there: -8 to +4 degrees. There were many days with brilliant, blue skies.

After the run it was a warm shower then on to the “Vista” dining room for a breakfast of your dreams, which included an on-site “omelet man” who made omelettes to order. It is a sad fact that although the food was good in Banff the coffee was, well, not what we enjoy in Australia. So Banff wasn’t perfect!

Practice, practice, practice!

Each morning I would arrive at my practice hut at around 10am and work to about 4pm. I would then break for concerts and often rehearse in the evenings. On the 5^th day I wrote in my diary, “Try to move the heart in the wonderful program I am preparing. Look for beauty in what you are playing. Look at the creation that surrounds you and draw inspiration from it”.

On the 7^th day of my residency I came to realise that the program I had elected to do for my recital back in Sydney in April 2013 was proving to be undoable for me physically. I was conscious of listening to my body which was saying “No, this is too big”. I had chosen 5 demanding composers that together would be too much for me in one concert. This is what was so fantastic about Banff. At the drop of a hat you could just go and talk to someone about your fears and concerns. I did this immediately and was supported with the decision to change the Marais suite I had originally chosen for one that was more “under the fingers”.

This was quite a learning point for me. There is no reason why I cannot approach my musical community here in Australia when I need to talk through musical decisions. I think as musicians we can build barriers between us, especially in the close-knit community that is the Australian classical and early music scene. I know I am afraid to share my fears about any musical short comings I might have but I would benefit much from seeking other people’s views more often.

One thing I would really like to continue back here after the Banff experience is to take advantage of the musical community around me – create moments when we can meet, talk and support each other.

Learning from and with colleagues

As I mentioned earlier there were a number of visiting faculty at Banff, a different musician each week.  For example, pianist Hardy Ritter, cellist Shauna Rolston, trumpeter Marco Blaauw and violinist Marc Destrubé. You could sign up for coaching which I did with Marc as he does a lot of period violin playing including the orchestra of the 18^th century and our own Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. It has been many years since I have had coaching like this. I found it hard to put my name down on the list but in the room with Marc with his guidance the music I played began to take shape and go to different places. I found this an incredibly humbling and worthwhile experience.

Part of my project, alongside expanding my command of the French Baroque repertoire, was to learn a new piece written for me by Rosalind Page. Rosalind was the reason I was in Banff as she encouraged me to apply for a residency in the first place.  She had been in Banff the year before.

This resulted in a wonderful connection between her and my experience. Her piece arrived a few days into my residency. It gave me great joy to be working in my hut on a piece that was written by an Australian friend and colleague who a few months before had been sitting in a hut like mine creating new music!

Composing was very much encouraged at the Banff residency. I think nearly every concert featured at least one world premiere. What a special opportunity to be somewhere for 5 weeks where you hear music in the making.

Being at the Banff Centre we were also surrounded by artists from other disciplines – visual artists, writers, dancers, film makers and even recording engineers.  In fact every concert was recorded at a very high standard. The recording studios themselves were amazing.  Many artists come to Banff just to record CDs.

I had the opportunity to perform in a lecture given by renowned architect Theaster Gates who gave a presentation about making urban communities liveable and how “art” was a very important factor in achieving this. It was a great opportunity to bring the viola da gamba to the wider community in Banff. Theaster began his lecture by dropping his jeans. Well it did get everyone’s attention! A stimulating lecture in more ways than one…

Although there was a lot of serious playing at Banff there was also some really fun moments and times of great laughter. One for me was when I discovered that the black box in my Motel room was not a safe but a fridge! I did find it strange that there would be a safe in an artist’s room; I mean we don’t earn much.  I shared this with my colleagues. Some laughed but others were glad I informed them as they too thought the black box was a safe. The important outcome being that I no longer had to leave my wine out on the balcony overnight!

Thanks

After many years of performing, directing 2 professional ensembles, putting together numerous programs and creating several baroque operas for children, it was just so fantastic to have time and space to reflect on the past, to look forward and to plan the next 10 years of my artistic life. Banff was a place where I found I could really be myself. The whole experience gave me a great deal of confidence that as an artist what I am doing is worthwhile. I have made new friends and contacts from all around the world and ironically, made several Australian friends.  I came home filled with new ideas and fuel to work with.

The final outcome of those weeks came to the fore at The Marais Project’s Season Launch, “Six of the Best” on April 11, 2013.  My only regret is that my Marais Project colleagues Danny Yeadon, Raymond Harvey and Tommie Andersson could not join me for a few weeks in the Canadian wilderness!

In closing I would just like to thank composer Rosalind Page and my husband Phil for encouraging me to take up this residency.  I also owe a debt of gratitude to NSW Arts who supported me financially.

Author

Jenny Eriksson

Jennifer Eriksson is one of Australia’s best known professional viola da gambists.  She was educated at Sydney Conservatorium and undertook three years post graduate study with Jaap ter Linder at Rotterdam Conservatorium, The Netherlands.  She is founder and Artistic Director of “The Marais Project”, which she formed in 2000 to perform the complete works of Marin Marais and other ancient and contemporary works for her instrument.  She has released 4 commercial CDs the latest of which is “Lady Sings the Viol”.  The Marais Project presents an annual concert series in Sydney and tours regularly. 

The post A viola da gambist’s reflections on a Banff Centre Residency, 2013 appeared first on Marais Project.

About half of the disk’s repertoire could be considered early music, the remainder filled by 20^th Century composers both alive and departed.

Considering that bass viols and viol consort form the backbone of the instrumental ensemble, surprise works include Schubert’s “Ave Maria”, Stanley Myers’ “She was Beautiful”, and John Paul Jones’ “So ell encina”.  If you are already a Marais Project follower, you will be pleased to find the Chattanooga Choo Choo puffing in there too.  More traditional repertoire includes the lovely Juan Aranes Chacona, Italian Ground, a Fantasy by John Bull and, of course, the music of Marin Marais.

The line-up of participants in the CD is considerable; the voices of Belinda Montgomery, Mara Kiek, Narelle Evans, Nicole Thomson and Megan Cronin.  The viols are in the hands of Jennifer Eriksson, Catherine Upex, Imogen Granwal, Shaun Ng and Danny Yeadon.  Additional instruments are provided by Fiona Ziegler (baroque violin), Tommie Andersson (guitars and theorbo), Alex Cronin (double harp), Jess Ciampa (percussion), and Llew Kiek (gittern).  The inclusion of five women’s voices is a fair indicator that vocal repertoire is paramount and, for viols, unusual.

I am not going to dissect the disk in detail as it isn’t necessary.  It is a compilation of astonishing grace, beauty and sentiment, all expertly recorded.

A disk snatching at the unexpected, but yielding captivating listening.

Review by Neville Olliffe, Early Music News (April-May 2013)

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The Six of the Best team

Recital Hall East, Sydney Conservatorium of Music; 11/4/13

“Marais Project’s presentation of six composers and pieces provided interesting comparisons.  In the end, I think the concert proved that Marin Marais was the outstanding composer and practitioner on the instrument.

The movements of Pieces de viole, suite in E minor, by Francois Couperin portrayed sleeping, waking, a down turn of mood, and something approaching the resurrection.  The continuo responded perfectly to the music’s movement, especially its plods and surges.

Antoine Forqueray’s Chaconne in G Major was an uplifting composition, featuring a consistent sprightly melody, and eliciting fluent, expressive playing.

The seven movements of Pieces de Viole, Premier Livre, suite in D minor by Caix d’Hervelois, provided a spacious narrative and opportunity to sense the capabilities of the viol.  Impressive were its murmurings, rumblings and acclaiming bow strokes.

The newly composed Piece for Viola da Gamba and Theorbo by Rosalind Page sported an appealing, fresh approach, and called for energy and effect.

Charles Dolle’s Suite in G Major well illustrated the moods and feelings of the instrument – depth, sadness, sleepiness, release, freedom.

To close, the Marais Pieces, 3e Livre, Suite in A minor, placed Marais at the forefront of composition, supplying a majestic funereal Prelude, and an inviting Ballet, vibrant and surging with contrast and expression.

An audience well satisfied.”

Review by Neville Olliffe; published in Early Music News (April-May 2013)

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Couperin, Forqueray, Dollé, Marais, D’Hervelois.  How many 21st century music-lovers are familiar with any of the above names?  Yet back in the days when Louis XIV ruled France, they were celebrity composers for the viola da gamba and household names across Europe. Now in an ambitious move viola da gambist and Marais Project founder, Jennifer Eriksson, has put together a concert that revives the fortunes of these five neglected greats and features a newly commissioned work by Australian composer, Rosalind Page.

5 Frenchmen + 1 Australian woman = “6 of the Best”

“By necessity I’ve conceived this concert in the style of an iPod play list”, Eriksson commented”, “It’s a kind of like a ‘taster’ concert, an introduction to the hundreds of valuable works these fabulous viola da gamba composers produced.”  “The premiere of Rosalind’s piece is an added bonus.”

Rosalind Page

In recognition of the significance of this event NSW Arts, the State Government arts funding body, recently awarded Eriksson a scholarship to take up a Short Term Winter Residency at the prestigious Banff Arts Centre, Canada, where she spent five weeks practicing for “Six of the Best” and engaging in her hobby, running, amongst the snow covered peaks!.”Banff was amazing”, Eriksson commented, “It is one of the largest arts centres in the world and situated in the beautiful Canadian Rockies.”  “I benefited greatly from the opportunity to meet other international artists and practice six hours a day!”

“Six of the Best” launches The Marais Project’s 2013 concert series, its 14th consecutive year of presenting fine music for the viola da gamba.

Logistics

The composers

François Couperin (10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.  Couperin was widely respected during his life – JS Bach was an admirer – and has subsequently inspired a range of composers from Brahms to Ravel.  He also wrote two suites for the viola da gamba.  Jordi Savall has written that Couperin was the “poet musician par excellence”, who believed in “the ability of Music [with a capital M] to express itself in prose and poetry”, and that “if we enter into the poetry of music we discover that it carries grace that is more beautiful than beauty itself”.

Francois Couperin

Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728, Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles. He did well as court musician, and in 1679 was appointed ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.  He was a master of the basse de viol, and the leading French composer of music for the instrument. He wrote five books of Pièces de viole (1686–1725) for the instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as he who “founded and firmly established the empire of the viol” (Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). His other works include a book of Pièces en trio (1692) and four operas (1693–1709), Alcyone (1706) being noted for its tempest scene.

Caix d’Hervelois (ca. 1670, France–18 October 1759, France) wrote music almost exclusively for the viol. Most of his other works exist as transcriptions from his viol music.  Louis de Caix d’Hervelois was a pupil of the great Marin Marais.  Caix’s tuneful, graceful music is firmly in the French tradition of character pieces in dance suites. It is among the most idiomatic music written for the viol, its apparent simplicity deepening when interpreted in the light of the traditions of French viol performance practice. The French musicologist Philippe Beaussant wrote of Caix’s music and anonymity: “One might look upon Caix d’Hervelois as a sort of pseudonym masking a person whose name was ‘the Viol of France,’ just at the moment when it was about to disappear.”

Charles Dollé (fl. 1735 – 1755) was a French viol player and composer. Very little is known about his life. He was active in Paris and was a sought-after teacher of viol. His music, all of which involves the viol in some way, was influenced by Marin Marais (whose death the composer commemorated in a tombeau) and Italian style, which is most prominent in Dollé’s late works (although they retain the characteristically French ornamentation). Dollé’s music survives in five printed collections (all published in Paris).

Marin Marais

Antoine Forqueray (September 1671 – 28 June 1745) was a French composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba. Forqueray, born in Paris, was the first in a line of composers who included his brother Michel (1681–1757) and his sons Jean-Baptiste (1699–1782) and Nicolas Gilles (1703–1761). Forqueray was named musicien ordinaire of La chambre du Roy of Louis XIV in 1689 and played at court. Until 1710, he was accompanied by his wife on the harpsichord in his recitals. In 1730, he retired to Mantes-la-Jolie, where he died in 1745. His son published his works for the viola de gamba in 1747 (two years after his father’s death) together with a version for harpsichord. Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray were considered by their contemporaries as the two greatest virtuosi of the viola da gamba.

Forqueray

Composer and writer Rosalind Page studied composition at Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1990-91 with further studies in North America, graduating with a B.A. (Mus) Summa cum laude from the University of Delaware, USA. In 1994, she was honoured as a winner of the University of Delaware’s Edward H. Rosenberry Award for Excellence in Writing.  Upon her return to Australia, Page undertook a Master of Arts (Theatre and Film Studies) in 1996 at UNSW, researching sound and image relationships in the films of Andrei Tarkovsky. In 2006, she completed her PhD in composition with Ross Edwards at the University of Sydney. Rosalind has been commissioned by numerous prestigious ensembles and artists.  This is the second work she has written for The Marais Project.

Program – directed by Jennifer Eriksson

Antoine Forqueray (1671 – 1745) Pièces de viole suite  in G major

• Chaconne La Buisson

François Couperin (1668 – 1733) Pièces de viole, suite in E minor

• Prelude gravement
• Allemande légere
• Sarabande grave
• Gavotte gracieusement sans lenteur
• Passacaille ou Chaconne

Louis de Caix d’Hervelois (1670 – 1759) Pièces de viole, Premier Livre,  suite in D minor

• Prelude
• l’Henriette legerement
• La Villageoise
• La Bagatelle
• La Luthée
• Gigue
• Menuet

Charles Dollé (1735 – 1755) Pièces de viole, suite in G major

• Prelude
• Allemande La Mantry
• La Badine legerment

Rosalind Page Piece for viola da gamba and theorbo, World Premiere

• Columba (2013)

Marin Marais (1656 – 1728) Pièces de viole, 3e Livre, suite in A minor

• Prelude,
• Grand Ballet

The Performers

Jennifer Eriksson & Daniel Yeadon – viola da gamba

Tommie Andersson – theorbo

Raymond Harvey – harpsichord

Rehearsal for “Six of the Best”

The post “Six of the Best” – an exploration of 5 great composers for the viola da gamba + 1 new work! appeared first on Marais Project.

- Largo Allegro Larghetto Andante Vivace

• Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795) Stockholm 1790 and 1791. Arranged by Tommie Andersson

- Fredmans Epistel No. 2 – Till Fader Berg, rörande fiolen

- Fredmans Epistel No. 12 – Elegi öfver slagsmålet på Gröna Lund

- Fredmans Sång No. 32 – Afton-Qväde

- Fredmans Sång No. 65 – I anledning af Konungens resa till Ryssland

• Marin Marais (1656-1728)- Pièces en Trio (Suite No. 2 in G minor, Paris 1692)

- Prelude – Sarabande – Rondeau – Gavotte – Menuet – Plainte – Petit Passacaille

• Swedish Folk Music Suite.  Arranged by Tommie Andersson

- Låt till Far (Tune for my Father) – Pers Erik Olsson (1912-1983)

- Födelsedagsvisa (Birthday Song)  – Traditional

- Gråtlåten (The Crying Tune) – after Röjås Jonas  (1921-1989)

- Gullklimpen (The Golden Nugget)  – Timas Hans Hansson (1846-1916)

Welcome – Tommie Andersson and Jenny Eriksson

Jenny Eriksson

Why a program of Swedish music?  We have been performing together in The Marais Project and many other ensembles for more than 20 years now and alongside our shared musical loves, we also share a Swedish heritage.  Tommie was born and educated in Sweden while Jenny’s Swedish grandfather arrived in Melbourne in the 1920s.  He never returned to his homeland.  In late 2011 we decided to “bite the bullet” and schedule a Swedish concert as part of The Marais Project’s regular concert series.  Neither of us can remember similar repertoire being presented in Sydney over the past 25 years.  It has been wonderful and at times quite emotional getting to know the works of Roman and Bellman and some of Sweden’s beautiful folk songs through the unique lens of period instruments.

We would like to thank our colleagues Melissa and Fiona for sharing the musical journey.  Pascal deserves special acknowledgement for tackling Swedish pronunciation as do our immediate families for supporting us through this obsession!  Finally, we would both like to dedicate this concert to our families both here and in Sweden.  As the Swedes say: “tack” (thank you). We hope to see on on Sunday 11 November!

Tommie Andersson

The post Program for “Swedish Roots” – 3pm, November 11, Sydney Conservatorium appeared first on Marais Project.

Mara! meets Marais

“Two of Australia’s early music ensembles combine to perform repertoire about which they are passionate: music for viola da gamba by Marin Marais and the cantigas de Amigo of the 13^th century Galician composer Martin Codax.  Both ensembles take a broad approach to this music of the past: Marais wrote many works for seven-string viola da gamba and continuo – a second bass viol with either theorbo or harpsichord; the Codax cycle survives, as does virtually all of the song repertoire of the 13^th century, as a single melodic line – the instrumental accompaniment must be reconstructed from contemporary iconography, the little we can gleam of performance practice from written sources and the performer’s informed imagination.  The notes acknowledge the anachronism of the use of the modern double-bass, the renaissance lute, bouzouki and gittern: “The aim of the collaboration was to push beyond the boundaries rather than be circumscribed by them”.  I have no quibble with this.

The suites of Marin Marais, the foundation of the Marais Project, are for the viola da gamba what Bach’s six suites for unaccompanied cello are for Baroque music: they represent the high point of French 17^th century achievement for any solo instrument, on a par with Couperin’s harpsichord works.  The F major suite is performed very elegantly by Jennifer Eriksson.  Unfortunately it is masked by a too dominant continuo line.  As the accompanying notes make clear, this was not a studio recording under ideal conditions and perhaps further adjustments were needed by the recording engineer.

Mara Keik’s extraordinary voice seems well suited to the Codax songs, tinged with

plangent melancholy.  No music survives for the sixth of the songs, so I was particularly interested to hear what Mara! have done with it.  La Romanesca’s recording from the 1980s borrows a contemporary cantiga and the current recording takes the same sensible approach.  The instrumental arrangements owe much to the post-Munrow, post-Runnymede style, mixing period instruments with modern, varying the instrumentation between solo passages (with some very fine double-bass playing) and “big band” sound.

This is a very enjoyable “post-authentic” reading of some great music: its authenticity can be neither confirmed nor denied.”

By John Stinson; Stringendo, Journal of the Australian Strings Association, Vol 34, No 2 Oct 2012

The post Review of “Mara! meets Marais” CD, from Stringendo magazine appeared first on Marais Project.

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Philip Pogson (PP):  Tommie, where in Sweden did you grow up and go to school?

Tommie Andersson (TA): I grew up in Bodafors, a small country town of some 2,000 people in the province of Småland, home of IKEA, Orrefors and Kosta Boda glassware and Astrid Lindgren (the author of Pippi Longstockings) and much more.

 PP: What are some of the musical memories of your childhood?

 TA: My home was not a musical one and the reason I started learning music at all was that a few boys in my class (in year 5) asked me to take up the guitar so we could form a band like the Beatles. I am still very fond of their music, but one thing lead to another and I ended up making my living playing lutes instead.  I do enjoy playing “Blackbird” on the theorbo occasionally!

PP: Jenny, what about you?

 Jenny Eriksson (JE): Unlike Tommie I did not grow up in Sweden.  My grandfather, Knut Axel Eriksson, arrived in Melbourne in 1924.  He was a sailor by trade.  He never went back to Sweden.

 PP: Did you grow up knowing much about your heritage?

 JE: We knew Grandpa was Swedish of course, but there was not as much encouragement as there is today to keep up the original culture.  Dad went to Swedish church as a child but he did not really learn Swedish until later in his life.  However, each year we received letters from a Swedish cousin who wrote to Grandpa which kept up the link to Grandpa’s place of birth.  When I first went to Sweden I got to meet this cousin and the rest of my family which was very moving. Interestingly, many of our Swedish relatives are fine amateur musicians and we often play and sing together when we are in the same country!

PP: Are your family musical?

JE:I can’t remember hearing Grandpa sing but Dad tells he played the mouth organ beautifully.  Grandma, who was English, played the piano well and loved South American music.  Both of my sisters are fine musicians as well.  My Aunt was a music therapist before she retired and still sings in choirs.

 PP: Tommie, the Baroque period (1600 to 1750) was a time of immense musical change and development across Europe.  What was going on in Sweden during these years?

TA: In the 17th century Sweden was a major power in Europe, covering the area of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and the area in Russia where Peter the Great later founded St. Petersburg. Sweden also controlled some parts of northern Germany so the Baltic was a virtual Mare nostrum. Culturally, however, the court in Stockholm was far away from the centres of Paris, Rome and Venice and with wars and a small population, the frozen north did not produce any great lasting achievements.

Queen Christina of Sweden, who was very keen on the arts, enticed Italian and French musicians to visit in order to brighten up the court and the philosopher Descartes was her tutor (apparently very miserable and cold in Stockholm and soon died from pneumonia.). Christina later abdicated, converted to Catholicism, and became a patron of the arts in Rome with composers like Scarlatti, Corelli, Stradella and Pasquini under her wing.  At home, the Swedes continued to do what they did best: make war.

PP:Johan Helmich Roman, who will feature in “Swedish Roots”, is often described as “The Father of Swedish music”.  What was his role and how did he come to be given this title?

Tommie Andersson

TA: There were, of course, composers before Roman in Sweden but he was the first of any stature. Through his studies in England (with Pepusch) he got to know Bononcini, Geminiani and Handel and when he returned he was soon appointed Chief Master of the Swedish Royal Orchestra. Through his travels he brought a wealth of music by the great composers of the time to the Swedish court which had a huge influence on the coming generations. He composed orchestral music, cantatas, assagios for unaccompanied violin and 12 flute sonatas; the Drottningholm music is considered his greatest work, written for a royal wedding in 1744. This is a personal favourite of mine; it has 33 movements and is similar in style to Handel’s Water Music.

PP: I imagine that few Australians have an aural image of Swedish folk music.  Can you describe some of the key features of Swedish folk?

TA: Swedish folk music is mostly played on the violin; other instruments include nyckelharpa (a type of hurdy-gurdy played with a bow, with roots in the middle ages), various pipes and bagpipe and (in the 20th century) the accordion. The music itself is often in a minor or modal key, with sometimes quirky rhythms and tempered notes (i.e. deliberately slightly sharp or flat).

A lot of the Swedish folk music was notated in the beginning of the 1900s by dedicated musicologists Nils and Olof Andersson (no relations of mine!), so we now have a treasure trove of some 24 tomes in the series Svenska Låtar, with some 8,000 tunes. Every summer there are fiddlers’ festivals all over the country with thousands of participants. It is an experience to be part of this, hearing small groups of fiddlers having jam-sessions from out of nowhere and attending amazing performances by some of the many fantastic players.

 JE: My most powerful memory of Sweden is the fiddle orchestras, they have a wonderful, raw, robust sound and people seem to love to play in them.  Many of the songs are beautiful and Tommie has arranged some for this concert.

PP:  Anyone who has spent any length of time in Sweden will have come across the revered poet, Carl Michael Bellman.  How will Bellman feature in Swedish Roots?

TA:Bellman is central to Swedish culture – I doubt that there is an adult or child in

Carl Michael Bellman

Sweden who is not familiar with at least some of his songs. He is unique in that he not only set music to his poetry, but also conveyed a dramatic portrait of his time and the life of ordinary people (including drunkards and prostitutes) in Stockholm. The four songs I have chosen for this concert give quite a typical picture of Bellman’s output.                                                                                                

PP: Finally, you have been in Australia for a long time now Tommie.  Do you miss “home”?

TA:  In 2013 I will have spent exactly half of my life in Australia and I became a citizen a few years back, so I would probably consider Sydney “home” now. I also have a beautiful family here and plenty of interesting work. Having said that, there will always be things about Sweden that tug at me: the shimmering lakes and magical forests of Småland, the light of the midsummer’s night and the candles in every window at Christmas. The celebrations of Santa Lucia, when every little country town chooses a beautiful local girl to appear in the morning with candles in her hair. The wild mushrooms and berries in the forest, the elk and reindeer meat and the tasty freshwater perch – I better stop now otherwise I’ll just have to jump on the next plane to Stockholm and we’ll have no concert!

PP: Jenny, is there anything you want to add?

JE: Only that it will be a very interesting mix of baroque and folk songs but there will still be at least one piece by Marais to keep us true to our name.  We have asked my one of my Swedish cousins and her husband to choose a folk song to finish the concert and we are just waiting for that song now!

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Date:                     2.30pm Sunday 12 May, 2013

Venue                   Blessed Sacrament Church, Bradleys Head Rd Mosman

Featuring:         Pascal Herington – tenor; Melissa Farrow – baroque flute; Fiona Ziegler – baroque violin; Jennifer Eriksson – viola da gamba;  Tommie   Andersson – lute, 1820s classical guitar & theorbo

Tickets:                 $25/20 at door

The post “Swedish Roots” – an interview with The Marais Project’s Jenny Eriksson & Tommie Andersson appeared first on Marais Project.

Jordi Savall – viol master

A sad-eyed Spaniard with a French-ish accent, Jordi Savall is one of the greatest living forces in the rebirth of early music and has devoted his life to rediscovering, researching and sharing forgotten musical treasures. Savall studied the cello and then mastered the viola da gamba, his chief instrument. He founded the early-music ensemble Hespèrion XX (now XXI) in 1974 with his late wife, the soprano Montserrat Figueras, who passed away in November of last year. In 1987 he founded the vocal group Capella Reial de Catalunya and in 1989 the period-instrument orchestra Le Concert des Nations, which brings together young musicians, primarily from Latin countries. Following his lauded contribution to Alain Corneau’s 1991 film Tous les matins du monde starring tous les deux Depardieux, Savall was able to launch his own record label, Alia Vox, which has introduced early music to a wider public in resplendent luxury and style. His various projects have yielded close to two hundred recordings. In 2008, UNESCO appointed Savall an “Artist for Peace” and in 2009 he was appointed an Ambassador of the European Year for Creativity and Innovation by the European Union. I met with Savall at his hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, but the interview was conducted at a nearby Italian eatery. We spoke over his morning green tea but under the blare of r&b.

You’re known for Baroque music, “early music” and “world music,” but these categories don’t seem fair, as they’re both overly vague and yet too restricting for what you do. Maybe you could talk about these projects of yours, what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

Jordi and his late wife, the superb singer, Montserrat

What interests me is the power of music to make dialogue possible and the power of music to change our lives. It’s these two elements that move me to develop certain repertories, related to certain historical moments. For me, the best way to define what I am doing is to say: ‘I am a musician.’ And I don’t like to be classified — the only thing one can say is that my specialty is the viola da gamba. But still, I’m a viola da gamba player who plays also rebec, rebab, lyre, Celtic viol.

The repertoire is determined, then, by that choice of instruments — that guides the decisions.

Always. In the first place, it’s the music. What moved me to the cello when I was young was the music. My voice had changed, and I sought out something that could reflect that change [Savall has said that ‘all music comes from the voice’], and I found cello. And when I started cello in those first years, I realized I was working more like an archaeologist — looking for pieces of music myself. And I found pieces by Marais, by Couperin, by Bach for viola da gamba. And I also developed an interest — with Montserrat — in the Sephardic world, the Arab or Andalusian world, the Oriental repertories, stemming from our strong sense of genetic conscience from the Spanish multicultural history.

So Spain itself is responsible for your multicultural approach. Is that fair to say?

In his description of Spain and Italy, Erasmus says you cannot find one Christian person in Spain [laughs] — in 1515. When I am in Arabic countries, I look very normal. Our mix in history now moves our conscience. In 1492 we broke bridges with the expulsion of the Jews — and with the expulsion of the Moors, we broke the bridges between Orient and Occident.

And so, are you in the process of rebuilding those bridges?

Music is the best school for learning dialogue, learning to share, to accept others, to build something. With Montserrat, maybe we were not so conscious of this in the beginning, but more and more we saw the importance of using music as a way of reaching over cultural walls. We have seen this in musicians from Japan, Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Morocco, to lose the problem of language in music.

In a speech in 2001, Bill Clinton said that terrorists ‘thought that the differences they have with us, political and religious, were all that mattered — and served to make all their targets less than human. Most of us believe that our differences are important and make our lives interesting but that our common humanity matters more. The clash between these two views over this simple question more than any other single issue,’ Clinton concluded, ‘will define the shape and the soul of this new century.’ Is part of your goal to recognize that there aren’t islands of music, to find similarities?

The first thing is to recognize that we are educated in the Occident to have a vision of the world from a point of supremacy. This is received. Even very sensitive people have said for hundreds of years ‘Oh, I am tolerant.’ To be tolerant…

— implies superiority.

Yes. ‘I tolerate this.’ So the first thing we have to do is to be conscious that we are not better, that our world has positive things but that other worlds have different perceptions and concepts and values, les valeurs. And when you play music with other musicians, you choose to play with them because they are nice, or because you like how they play or sing, or because you feel it would be a nice thing to do together. But there is first and foremost a certain empathy. Then, when you come together, you have to listen to the others, to learn how to start a dialogue; they have to participate in the same way, with you. Music making is the best way to learn intercultural dialogue. You cannot do music if you can’t decide together what to play and how to play and how to leave space for others when you are playing. It’s only if you find a certain harmony that you can do music. Even when people are open, it can be difficult. When I was working with Armenians and Turks and asked the Armenians to play a Turkish march, their first reaction was ‘No, please, this is not for us.’ We live in a world in which every day is worse and worse and worse. The climate, social, financial, political — it’s dispiriting because you don’t see eye to eye. But the world can be safe if each of us is concerned. This starts with our own life, with our family, with our friends, with our village. If everybody was ready to help others, to do something, the world would be different. We are too ready to say, ‘Well, this is not my problem,’ and I think when you see the reaction from fanatical people, you see that the first enemy of humans is ignorance. Ignorance makes fanatics. The second enemy is hatred. And the third is egoism. And all these things can be saved with the development of a sensitive language, like music. Within a class of young black and white students singing, there’s no racism. When people share the beauty of music, you cannot develop these fanatical elements.

As you have investigated more and more musics, what have you discovered as far as musical commonalities?

In the world of classical music, a lot has already been investigated, and there remain few chances to discover a new Bach or a new Monteverdi. But one important discovery I made with Montserrat occurred when we started to explore Sephardic music — in the very beginning of Hespèrion — was that these differences between classical music and folk music or traditional music are very artificial and incorrect. Because why is it that these songs have been conserved for five hundred, six hundred years — without being associated with a famous composer, without being written in a nice manuscript — from fathers to

The great Marin Marais

children? And this is simply because this music has had people who have ensured its survival. This is a constant in all societies that suffered persecution or hunger or were minorities — for example, Scots, Irish, Armenian, Basques, Catalans — and the question always comes up: why does this music have such power of emotion and beauty? Well, imagine a family expelled from Spain that arrives in Istanbul in a world where they know no one; and after terrible travel and problems, what do they do? They sing something together. And only in this moment of singing does their peace arrive. And these people conserved these songs because they were the necessary food for having peace and hope. And this is the constant that has moved me to work in these Oriental, Celtic and Armenian repertories because I found in this music something exceptional — this quality of having a strong, simple and emotional message. And this is, for me, the most important thing. A simple Sephardic melody gives me as much energy, beauty and emotion as a big symphony from Mahler. This is the magical mystery of music. This corresponds with life, if you think about it. All the most important and beautiful moments of life are intimate. In the life I shared with Montserrat, we saw this too, in the choice of repertory. We saw that life is too short to play everything, and so you look in music for good friends. One philosopher says: ‘If you want happiness, find a friend and stay close to him.’

There must be an enormous amount of research and scholarship you have to undertake every time you dive in to one of your musical projects. How does that process work? And are you concerned — when you’re investigating a new music — about authenticity? Is there such a thing as ‘authenticity’?

Authenticity can be used for different aspects — for an instrument, for playing, for style — but it is, in a certain way, quite relative. For example, take an orchestra playing Bach with original instruments. How can we know if this is authentic or not? Art is not a science. You don’t have a machine that can tell you: ‘This is one hundred percent authentic; this is fifty percent authentic.’ In this context, I think authenticity is important in the process of learning about the music. What is important for a musician is to know. If the enemy is ignorance, the best friend is knowledge. Freedom depends on knowledge. The more you know, the more you are free. The next project, for example, is the CD-book Jeanne d’Arc [(Alia Vox)]. Previously, I had read about the history of France and all that. Over the last two years, I have traveled with books about Jeanne d’Arc full of details and I was reading and marking the most important things — practically living with Jeanne d’Arc for two years.

And what does this give you, this cohabitation with Joan d’Arc?

This gives you the feeling that you are ready to put the life of Jeanne d’Arc in a musical context and find for every moment the corresponding musical atmosphere that can help to share her experience. It’s the same with any project or creation. The more you know about each context, each moment, the more you can say, ‘Oh, this will be the best!’ At the same time, I was looking through collections of music from the time to find music that best represented the historical moment. But this is a process that I combine with my life — traveling, concertizing. You cannot be exclusive. During the recording, during the concert, yes, it’s one hundred percent dedication. But normally, you combine things: I’m working on an Erasmus project, on a pro pacem project —

That’s why you have Erasmus on the brain.

Yeah. And for 2014, I’m preparing a big project on peace and war. I can tell you now how

Violone from Paris

much money is dedicated in the U.S.A. for the military: $711 billion, forty-one percent of the world’s military. I can tell you that there are seven thousand four hundred atom bombs ready to go in the world. There are now thirty-five million displaced persons in the world, ten million of which are without nationality. And this is why I’m working on musical projects that have a conscience. With music, you must know about history, about current events, how we can prepare a better life. If an artist is not able to change the world, he’s not an artist. And look, ‘world’ can be one person. It’s as Dostoevsky says [in The Idiot]: ‘Beauty will save the world.’ If we apply this in general, then maybe we can’t understand it. But if we see this from human being to human being, then it’s true.

Is there music for you that feels like terra firma, that feels like home, that ultimately you can return to?

Practically all the music I do is home.

Do you make it home?

Yes, in a certain way the process is the same as when you establish a relationship with a friend or with a person you love. First, there’s something that makes you closer to this person — sympathy; a connection; it could be a casual thing, you travel together, you work together. With music, it’s the same. You start something because you like it, and then something moves you, and then, if it’s true, you investigate it further; it’s natural. And in my life I have decided at certain moments not to play certain types of music because I was not feeling enough of a connection. And if I don’t feel this connection…

Then why do it?

Yeah, or sometimes I feel a strong connection, but one that disturbs me. For example, at one point, I decided to investigate and study Gesualdo. But…

Ça ne marche pas.

I was working on something by Gesualdo and I felt, very strongly, a certain — what can I say — dérangement. Within the music of Gesualdo, I captured the sickness of Gesualdo. He was a destructive, very aggressive person. He is not a friend. His music does not bring me the feeling that I am at home. Life is too short. You cannot love everybody; you have to make a choice. [Laughs.]

You’ve made some good choices so far.

Abel, a great player and composer for the viola da gamba

Yeah, and it’s the same with musicians. I’ve been working with the same musicians for forty years now. They are like family, my friends, people I trust like a brother or a sister. I think you cannot play music with someone if you don’t trust him, if you’re not really in harmony with him. You share everything when you play music with people — this is something very intimate.

The post The Bridge Builder: Jordi Savall Crosses the Chasm Vast. (From “Listen” magazine) appeared first on Marais Project.