Conductor William Christie was in his late seventies when this recording appeared in the spring of 2021. He and his ensemble Les Arts Florissants were among the first musicians to engage with the lesser-known corners of the French Baroque, and Christie has trained many members of the next generation of historical performers in France. However, he has never slowed down with his own music-making, and here, he shows once again an ability to take quite obscure repertory and present it accessibly for general audiences. Until ...
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Conductor William Christie was in his late seventies when this recording appeared in the spring of 2021. He and his ensemble Les Arts Florissants were among the first musicians to engage with the lesser-known corners of the French Baroque, and Christie has trained many members of the next generation of historical performers in France. However, he has never slowed down with his own music-making, and here, he shows once again an ability to take quite obscure repertory and present it accessibly for general audiences. Until Christie came along, the air de cour, or court air, was hardly known at all or was known only through an annoying ditty by Claude Le Jeune called Revecy venir du printans that those taking university music history classes invariably have encountered. Le Jeune is present here but acquits himself much better in more complex pieces, and the program gives a sense of the variety of this tradition. The album is subtitled "Airs sérieux et à boire" ("Serious Songs and Songs for Drinking"), but...
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