The popularity of the film Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) has revived the fortunes of a shadowy composer named Sainte-Colombe, who was active in the late seventeenth century. The film was largely fictitious, but subsequent research, much of it nicely summarized in the notes to this disc, has shed light on who Sainte-Colombe might have been and has actually backed up some of the guesses made by filmmakers and by novelist Pascal Quignard, on whose book Tous les matins du monde was based. Various viol ...
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The popularity of the film Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) has revived the fortunes of a shadowy composer named Sainte-Colombe, who was active in the late seventeenth century. The film was largely fictitious, but subsequent research, much of it nicely summarized in the notes to this disc, has shed light on who Sainte-Colombe might have been and has actually backed up some of the guesses made by filmmakers and by novelist Pascal Quignard, on whose book Tous les matins du monde was based. Various viol players have recorded his duets, and the Montreal pair of Susie Napper and Margaret Little, recording here under the name of their larger ensemble Les Voix Humaines, herewith continue a series of Sainte-Colombe's complete works for "deux violes esgales," two equal viols. The music, meditative and deep-voiced, is informatively presented and energetically played. Napper and Little do not accomplish, or attempt, the slightly mystical quality of Jordi Savall's playing on the film...
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