Fruits de la Passion is a sampler disc, presenting music that was heard at the Montreal Baroque Music Festival in 2003 and 2004. It's not clear why it is labeled with the date 2005. Perhaps it was intended to be sold at the 2005 festival but was released later for general sale. In any event, it's an invitation to the festival, held in the Old Montreal neighborhood near the St. Lawrence River. Should you go?The answer is a qualified yes. The mostly Canadian musicians on this disc do not quite deliver state-of-the-art Baroque ...
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Fruits de la Passion is a sampler disc, presenting music that was heard at the Montreal Baroque Music Festival in 2003 and 2004. It's not clear why it is labeled with the date 2005. Perhaps it was intended to be sold at the 2005 festival but was released later for general sale. In any event, it's an invitation to the festival, held in the Old Montreal neighborhood near the St. Lawrence River. Should you go?The answer is a qualified yes. The mostly Canadian musicians on this disc do not quite deliver state-of-the-art Baroque performances. They're never unpleasant to listen to, but in the main we do not hear the immersion in historical playing techniques that really give music of the seventeenth century, especially, its bite. This reservation is more than counterbalanced, however, by the festival's worthwhile overall concept. It is an indoor-outdoor event, with church music, garden concerts, ceremonial pieces, street music, and perhaps other genres; the selection, of course, varies from year to year....
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