Artist: Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire
Album: Couperin: Complete Sonatas
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2012
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 88,2 kHz
Duration: 01:09:40
Total Tracks: 7
Total Size: 1,17 GB

Tracklist:

01. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate en quatuor « La Sultane »: [Gravement] – [Gayement] – Air tendrement – Légèrement (10:21)
02. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « La Pucelle »: Lentement – Gayement – Lentement – Gayement – Lentement – Légèrement – Air – Viste (06:47)
03. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « La Steinquerque »: Gayement, Bruits de guerre – Air lentement – Gravement – Légèrement – Mouvement de fanfares – Lentement – Gravement – Gayement (11:03)
04. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « La Convalescente »: Gravement – Vivement et ferme – Lentement – Air gracieusement – Lentement – Lentement – Vivement (13:01)
05. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « L’Astrée »: [Lentement] – Légèrement – Lentement – Gayement – Air tendrement – Lentement – Viste (09:51)
06. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « La Superbe »: [Lentement] – [Gayement] – Très lentement – Légèrement – Air tendre – Gayement (09:48)
07. Les Dominos, Florence Malgoire – Sonate « La Visionnaire »: Gravement – Légèrement – Air légèrement – Légèrement – Lentement – Gayement – Air tendrement – Légèrement, Chaconne (08:46)

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After the success of a CD devoted to the sonatas of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Florence Malgoire s ensemble Les Dominos explores the first French sonatas. All of these works date from the 1680s, when the French had just discovered the Italian sonata style and had begun to use it, albeit in some secrecy. This recording contains the complete sonatas of François Couperin, four of which are the original versions of sonatas that Couperin would later make use of in Les Nations. It is the first recording to present the sonatas in their entirety, in particular because the sonata La Convalescente appears on record for the very first time. The sonata was discovered only recently in a manuscript copy in Germany.The sonata is one of the most common of all musical genres, but in France toward the end of the 17th century, with Italian styles still in official disfavor, it was barely even possible to write one. Composers were fascinated, however, by the new breezes blowing from Italy, and François Couperin began to write “sonades” even though he never published them. He later claimed to have written the first French sonatas. The seven works here are odd fusions of French and Italian styles, and they are beautifully animated by the French historical-instrument group Les Dominos and its leader, violinist Florence Malgoire. Three works, La Steinquerque (track 3), L’Astrée (track 5), and La Visionnaire (track 7), approximate the texture of the Italian trio sonata, with paired instruments over a continuo, but the rest have two pairs of solo instruments and mix the concertante or contrast principle with other kinds of ensemble writing. The movement structure is purely French, with sequences of very short movements that carry some kind of programmatic content. These were, for their time and place, rather experimental works, but their genius is that they have a relaxed ebb and flow in spite of that; they are loose in structure and have a sense of discovery of fresh textures. Malgoire and Les Dominos get the loose-limbed spirit of the music, offering textures in which the bass viol of Guido Balestracci is almost an equal partner with the violins and/or flutes above. The ensemble playing of this new group is exceptional, and one awaits with interest any move they might make toward repertoire beyond the French 17th century.