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Reviewer: Barry
Brenesal The vielle in question isn’t as you might expect the medieval fiddle, but the vielle à roue, vielle-with-a-wheel, that claimed the soubriquet during the 16th century. At least, it did so in France; so that while it’s common today to find books in English that consider vielle synonymous with the fiddle, French ones still display the hand-cranked hurdy-gurdy in its earlier permutations. By the time its name had been foreshortened, however, the hurdy-gurdy had long since lost its hold on the French courts and faded back to its origins in the countryside. It wasn’t until the early 18th century that it returned triumphantly to the courts, as part of a fad begun at Versailles over idealized visions of country life. Leading Rococo artists such as Fragonard and Boucher painted many canvases featuring frolicking shepherds and peasants, but the sophisticated reimaginings of rustic music with vielle heard in the intimate salons of the day and at the elaborately costumed, outdoor fêtes were mostly composed by musicians that are unknown today. The selection of their works compiled on this album is of better quality than one might expect, given perceptions of a general decline in French instrumental music during the last half of the 18th century. It is unfailingly tuneful, often rhythmically vivacious, and even from time to time harmonically adventurous—as in the opening afffectueusement movement of Ravet’s Duo for Hurdy-Gurdy and Violin (Book II), always assuming it isn’t a modern arrangement, as I suspect. Much of the disc’s music is pure French with a pronounced folk influence, as in Charles Bâton’s Sonata IV in C Major. (He was the son of Henri Bâton, who redesigned the old folk vielle for court use.) Elsewhere, Jean-Baptiste Dupuits writes three out of four movements in his Sonata VI in G Minor in a Corelli-influenced style, where the hurdy-gurdy performs lines and figurations that are clearly violin-derived; while the opening movement of publisher-composer Christophe Le Menu de Saint-Philibert’s cantata Le Viele combines an Italian galant accompaniment with a vaudeville-style melody to ravishing effect. Tobie Miller’s Ensemble Danguy consists of six musicians on this album, with the vielle understandably featured, occasionally taking second place to vocals. (Harpsichordist Marc Meisel also gets two short selections by Daquin and Rameau for himself.) Though several of the works are relatively easy to perform, those of Dupuits press the limits of the hurdy-gurdy’s virtuosic possibilities; and Miller meets these technical demands without exception, if not in one or two instances with complete ease. She is at all times a most persuasive performer who makes a good case for her instrument, both as a featured soloist and in a more muted, shared chamber setting. Soprano Monika Mauch in turn phrases and ornaments in her two allotted cantatas with distinction and focus. The engineering is generally very good, with strong balance. An exception is Saint-Philibert’s La Vìele, where an effort has clearly been made to provide greater prominence to the secondary and continuo parts. Mauch’s voice is slightly overwhelmed as a result, but not in her other featured work, Dupuits’s Le Bouquet. If you enjoy the lighter dances in the opéras-ballets of Rameau and Campra, you’ll want to make this disc’s acquaintance. It is performed with spirit, and a nice sense of style. | |
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