reviewvancouver: Salish_Sea_Festival_LouisXIV

"Music of the King’s Chamber". Not so much a literal royal bedchamber or even a room, but rather an Office in charge of the music of the court, music for balls, ballets and banquets as well as playlists for Louis XIV’s private hours, including bedtimes. Players, singers, composers and dancers were all part of it. Many printed volumes of the music and manuscripts still exist of this repertoire, including originals and arrangements in a different key or for another combination of players. Remarkably, there are sometimes hand-written notations in the margins.

Salish Sea Early Music Festival's players have riffled through this wealth of material and made a playlist of their own, which also includes arrangements made for and by the three musicians of this evening’s performance, Caroline Nicolas on viola da gamba, William Simms on baroque guitar and Jeffrey Cohan, baroque flute.

They began with a piece no-one in the audience could ever have heard before, direct from the 17th century leaves of an unpublished collection in the Library of Congress. An" Air pour la flute, Allemand", by the King’s music librarian Andre Danican Philidor L’Aisne, exuding charm and elegance was immediate and freshly played.

William Simms and his baroque guitar explored – I think this is the right word, there were new delights and vistas at every turn – a "Prelude" by Robert de Visee, with excitement and nuance. The full trio then turned to another de Visee piece, "Suite in A minor" from Pieces de Theorbo et de Luth, sharing the various dance movements between them. Interestingly some movements were played twice, alternating ensemble and solo versions.

Caroline Nicolas’ rich and thoughtful playing of "Chaconne" brought out the subtleties of Ste. Colombe’s alluring composition, brilliantly accompanied by Simms. There followed a "Sonata in D Major" from Sonates pour Violin et pour le Clavecin by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, highly regarded by Louis throughout her life. Emulating 17th century practice, the group substituted flute, gamba and guitar with no loss of character but adding a pleasantly suave disposition.

Francesco Corbetta, an Italian, looks the odd person out, but he spent some time at Louis’ court as one of the pre-eminent virtuoso guitarists of the time. He was famous also for introducing into his compositions a mixed style of both plucking and strumming the instrument which William Simms superbly delivered in Corbetta’s mesmerizing "Chaconne."

"Suite in D Major" from Pieces de viol L.I closed the evening. Again, the trio delved into Marais’ rapidly shifting harmonies and contrasting dance movements with rigour and pleasure. The final "Chaconne" recapitulated the programme, harking back to the fascinating "Chaconne" by Sainte-Colombe, Marais’ teacher and Corbetta’s guitar "Ciaccona".