Beauté Barbare   Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien

François Lazarevitch and his Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien are noted for going to the source of music, this time with works by Georg Philipp Telemann. Around 1705, Telemann travelled through Upper Silesia (Poland) and Moravia, where he was fascinated and inspired by the truly barbaric beauty of the folk music. In his diary he describes the pipers in particular and says how wonderful the ideas of those pipers and fiddlers are when, during a break in the dancing, they begin to improvise so that, listening to them with attention, in eight days a man could collect enough musical ideas for his whole life. Telemann borrowed these typical melodies, dressing them in an Italianate costume with alternating adagios and allegros. This has also stimulated the imagination of François Lazarevitch: He goes to the source and contrasts the compositions with their wild taste with traditional music (especially dances) from Poland, Moravia and Romania. A vibrant evening!

Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien
Hélène Richaud – vocals, cello
Josef Zak, Amaryllis Billet – violins
Diane Chmela – viola
Iurie Morar – cymbalon
Chloé Lucas – double bass
Pierre Rigopoulos – zarb, davul & percussion
Éric Bellocq – archlute, cittern
Conductor: François Lazarevitch – transverse flute, frula, fluier, cornemuses