By collaborating with Harmonia Mundi, the Musée de la Musique, which is housed at the Philharmonie de Paris, aims to make its heritage of early instruments widely accessible through recordings and promote artistic as well as human connections. The CD The Last Rose is a great example and taster of this ambition.
Two beautiful instruments from the museum’s collection were restored to playing condition for the CD recording: the bass viol of English luthier John Pitts (1679) and the arch recorder of luthier Christoph Koch, who worked in Venice (1654). This combination of of timbres, devised by Mathilde Vialle and Thibaut Roussel, is above all a chance to explore English music in the second half of the 17th century. Works by Tobias Hume and Henry Purcell, along with unpublished manuscripts recovered from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, are featured on the CD. Every manuscript reveals the depth of a repertoire with both well-known and unknown treasures.
Playlist
Anthony Poole (ca. 1629-1692)
St Fortunatus
St Martina
Chacone
Francis Withy (ca. 1645-1727)
Divisions in G minor
Anoniem
Suite in G minor: Preludium, Aria, Courant
Greensleeves
Suite in D minor: Overture, Courante
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Music for a while
Giovanni Coprario (ca. 1570-1626)
O grief (Songs of Mourning)
Tobias Hume (ca. 1569-1645)
The Spirit of Gambo (Captain Hume’s Poetical Musicke)
Anonymous
‘Tis the last rose of summer
Borgia: Preludium, Corant, Aria
CD: The Last Rose, Harmonia Mundi, HMM902505
Performed by:
Mathilde Vialle
Bass violin of John Pitts (Londen, 1679), collection Musée de la musique
Treble violin of Jean-Paul Boury (Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, 2012) to an anonymous English instrument (ca. 1600)
Thibaut Roussel
Archlute of Christoph Koch (Venice, 1654), collection Musée de la musique
Archlute Félix Lienhard (Grenoble, 2021)
Baroque guitar of Stephen Murphy (Mollans-sur-Ouvèze, 1994) to Stradivari
Ronan Khalil
Virginals of Jean-François Brun (Paris, 2008) to an anonymous Italian instrument(1628)
Zachary Wilder
Tenor
Henry Purcell
Here the Deities approve (Welcome to All the Pleasures)
CD: Begin the Song! A Purcell Academy, Harmonia Mundi, HMM902741
Performed by: Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian & Paul Figuier (countertenor), Jean-Christophe Lanièce (bariton), Le Consort: Théotime Langlois de Swarte & Sophie de Bardonnèche (violin), Hanna Salzenstein (cello), Louise Pierrard (viola da gamba), Justin Taylor (virginal organ), accompanied by Maria Páramo & Anna Sypnieuwski (viola), Sébastien Marq & Nathalie Petibon (recorder/flute), Nele Vertommen (oboe), Léa Masson (teorbe & guitar), Thibaut Roussel (teorbe)
