Luogo e data di registrazione		Kirche, Séon (Svizzera) - 25-28 maggio 1977
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Gerd Berg / Johann-Nikolaus Matthes
	Prima Edizione LP		EMI Electrola "Reflexe" - 1C 063-30 938 Q - (1 lp) - durata 47' 21" - (p) 1977 - Analogico (Quadraphonic)
	Prima Edizione CD		EMI "Classics" - CDM 7 63146 2 - (1 cd) - durata 47' 21" - (c) 1991 - ADD
	Edizione CD		EMI "Classics" - 8 26506 2 - (1 cd) - durata 47' 21" - (c) 2000 - ADD
	Note		-

"The lute has gained such an influence on the other stringed instruments, either because people have given it this advantage, or it has achieved this great success itself by virtue of its excellence and perfection, that the other instruments stand for nothing." This was Père Marin Mersenne’s opinion in 1636, at a time, when France, in fruitful contact with Italian culture and arts, herself became the model the rules of vvhich the other European nations were to follow from now on - and sometimes implicitly. The great transformations in plastic art, architecture and literature find a remarkable expression also in the field of music, where the French give their compositions a harmonious equilibrium, an increasing refinement of the musical material and an inexpressible subtlety of the performance. In all classes of the population the lute is the favourite instrument, but it is in reality in aristocratic circles that it finds its most zealous admirers. Abandoning the beautiful, but austere polyphony they had cultivated in the course of the preceding century, the lutenists of the 17th century refined their style and, adapting it more intimately to the demands and possibilities of their instrument, they reached an almost aphoristic degree of lightness and suggestion. Besides this, we must mention the fact that the development of the air de cour allowed the lute, ideal support of the voice, to take an eminent position in the evolution of the accompanied monody, whose plasticity and melodic ductility did not leave the masterlutenists indifferent (cf. Airs de cour du règne de Louis XIII, Reflexe No. 1C 063-30 935). These musicians’ principal concern, however, was to give the lute a literature in accordance with the aesthetic sensibility of their time. As to the poetry and the novel of this first half of the century, they were multifarious, ambiguous and fluid like water, and so was the music. Ethereal and yet sensual, this music played (with) the emotions of the beautiful ladies in the audience. Each of its compenents was the result of a clever alchemy on the part of the lutenists to whom l\/lersenne attributes really magic povver: "... a lutenist will succeed in everything when playing on his instrument: So, for example, he will be able to represent the two geometric means, the duplication of the cube, the quadrature of the circle, the proportion of the movements of all heavens and their stars and the speed of falling bodies and a thousand and more other things by means of the sound and the melodies of his instrument..."  (Harmonie universelle, 2nd book). Concerning the forms the musicians were making use of novv, there are no longer those abstract contrapuntal fantasias the lutenists of the preceding generation had preferred, but most lively and “modern” dances which formed part of the court entertainments. They arranged these dances in a certain order so as to vary the tempi and rhythms, often in a more or less thematical relation, and always respecting the tonal unity with regard to the tuning or character of the instruments. and some years later this order became standardized in some way and gave rise to the “classical suite". This actually did not appear before Froberger’s death (in 1667), whose relations with the French lutenists during his stay in the capital in 1652 were frequently emphasized. But we should note that the suite à la française as a form was given less attention than its various elements: these pièces, dance forms, would remain the favourite, and almost exclusive expression of their art till the end of the century. With a view to establish the key and provide an atmosphere favourable to the harmonious dreaming, these pieces vvere often preceded by a Prelude, reminiscence of the Tastar de corde of the Italian lutenists or the Toccate by means of which they tested the keyboard. The prelude soon established itself in front of the suite in the form of a lyrical improvisation the notation of which, deliberately imprecise (without time signature), called for the interpreter’s invetiveness, this was the touchstone of both lutenists and harpsichordists. The Allemande, a majestic dance in duple time, creates a somehow solemn atmosphere, in contrast with the capricious Courante, wich gracefully moves in triple time and differs from the Italian variety, the rapid Corrente. This “wonderful lute piece", as Mattheson put it, is without doubt the most “precious” dance of the time; its melodious ambiguity, in some vvay foreshadowing Schumann, its suspended respiration, the unexpected turns of its extremely delicate harmony were once compared by a poetical mind with the “gambolling of a fish that dives, disappears and comes back to the surface". If, contrary to the general opinion, the composers put the Sarabande at the end of the set, it was because its ancient Iberian variety, the Zarabanda, did not become wiser until about 1660, and, mad and wild as it was, became melancholy and gloomy. The memory of this early Sarabande, which was condemned by the morality of that time, survives in the French idiomatic phrase faire la sarabande, alluding to the wildest gesticulations. The French Gigue, a rapid dance with an irregular rhythm, which came to be the customary closing movement of the classical suite, is rarely used by the lutenists and harpsichordists of the first generation of the 17th century. If, however, it is used, it is not in order to create a final relaxation after the Sarabande, but to strain to the utmost the atmosphere of the Allemande, after which it is found in most of the anthologies. By the way, there is such a close connection between these two dances that they sometimes shade off into one another: the same piece may serve two purposes, and this depends on the degree of irregularity affecting its rhythm. But harmoniously proportioned as this frame was, it pieces were propagated in France and abroad. It was only twenty years or so after he died, at Nèves in 1651, that his name appeared side by side with his young cousin’s, Denis, for whom he was often mistaken. Ennemond’s style, however, differs considerably from his relatives and friend‘s, which fact becomes evident from the three beautiful pieces in D major, surviving in the Livre de Tablature, their only source. Denis Gaultier "Junior", or Gaultier from Paris, born some twenty years later, was, in a much higher degree, the singer of preciosity. He had come to Paris at an early age and, concerning his compositions, must have been a pupil of Charles Raquet, organist at Notre Dame from 1618 to 1648, who gathered round himself a great number of lutenists from the capital. When this master died in 1664, Gaultier felt the impulse to compose a long Pavan, which he placed at the beginning of his first engraved book, and some years later, the polyphonic style of his Fantaisie seems a reminiscence of this education. Denis Gaultier appears to have never held an appointment, though his name is connected with the aristocratic circle round Anne de Chambré, gentilhomme de M. le Prince, thrésorier des guerres and friend of the most famous artists of the time. It is to the taste of this amateur that we owe the conception, about 1655, of the richest monument erected in honour of the lute and its “illustrious servant” Denis Gaultier. This sumptuous, small, oblong volume containing the lutenist's most beautiful pieces is decorated with engravings by Abraham Bosse after originals by Nanteuil and Le Sueur (3). Twelve allegorical scenes introducing the twelve church modes and alluding to figures from Greek mythology form the chapters of this Rhétorigue des Dieux. A most refined commentary accompanies each pieces. So, under the dorian mode, "serious, dignified and expressing peaceful gaiety", the Allemande with its abrupt change of metre, entitled Phaeton struck by lightning, illustrates the “punishment Jupiter inflicted upon the reckless person: And his father’s, Apollo’s, suffering in his bereavement". The Courante Ulisse and the Sarabande which follow are reprinted, as well as other pieces, in the Livre de Tablature, which we have already mentioned. C. ten years earlier, Gaultier had set his mind against the liberties any performer had taken with his compositions: "They (his works) have changed to such a degree and are so deformed that, sent to the province or outside the kingdom, they will not be recognizable any more.” As to this first book, the suite of pieces in G is a model of construction and musical limpidity. Here and there, the secret of the portraits Couperin took such a delight in is disclosed by an inconsiderate copyist:  It is Richelieu who appears behind the first Courante, whereas the second, languid, tells the Farewell of Mademoiselle Le Brun l’aînee. The last figure of this sounding anthology, Charles Mouton, is also the last representative of the Parisian lutenist school. After him, Campion or de Visée cultivated a rather different style, which, though not contradicting the spirit of the instrument, could not exploit its graceful nobility. Mouton was born in 1626 (?), perhaps at Rouen, and is said to have been keeping company with the regular guests of the Hôtel de Rambouillet, and he preserved his preference for psychological portraits and a certain musical jocularity from these meetings. The expressive chromaticism of his music, the cantabile and those embellishments peculiarly his hint at some Italian influence, reminiscence of his stay at Turin where he went to perfect his art. The portrait François de Troy (4) made of him, “with which in comparison", as Mariette put it, “the best Van Dyck does not seem superior to me", presents us Mouton in the prime of life: a face showing a strain of melancholy and irony, surrounded with the heavy curls of his full-bottomed wig, rich lace-trimmings set off against the velvet of his braided robe, the bands of an aristocrat of the lute, this is the “illustrious Monsieur Mouton” about 1670. Amongst his numerous pupils there are at least two occupying an important position in the history of the lute: René Milleran, grammarian and interprète du Roi, and the Silesian Le Sage de Richée, who propagated his pieces in Germany. Two books, engraved rather clumsily, have survived, in which Charles Mouton arranged his compositions according to “different modes”: A minor, C minor, A major and F sharp minor. The latter key, which the Gaultiers had introduced under the name of “key of the goat", inspired Mouton to composing some of his most beautiful pieces in his secon a nonchalant Promenade, Mouton evokes a countenance, a delicate miniature, a colloquy worthy of Saint-Amant, and "La Malassis" may bid her audience farewell in a tone of shy voluptuousness. In 1954, in his captivating small work on the interpretation of old music, Thurston Dart regretted that there was no lutenist whose technique as well as intuition could do justice to the most romantical music of the French masters of the 17th century. A statement we can hardly maintain in our days, since we know the works and interpretations by Anthony Bailes. Claude Chauvel Translation by Gudrun Meier (1) Hanc choream gallicam pertissimus Mus. Col. niae vel. in gratia auth. composuit. (2) Oxford, Bodleian Library. (3) Cf. Gaultier’s portrait by Le Seur, which is reproduced. (4) Musée du Louvre. This portrait was engraved by G. Edelinck in 1690 to thank Mouton for the lessons he had given to his daughter.
EMI Electrola "Reflexe"