Old and new make for compelling disc-mates on an enterprising album
The Strad Issue: November 2024
Description: Old and new make for compelling disc-mates on an enterprising album
Musicians: Lucile Boulanger (viola da gamba)
Works: Works by Hersant, Hotman, Machy, Marais, Pesson, Sainte-Colombe the Younger and Sinnhuber
Catalogue number: ALPHA 1070
Lucile Boulanger’s portrait of the French viol through the centuries reflects her conscious attempt to extend the instrument’s 20th-century revival to embrace contemporary repertoire. The album is centred around five miniatures from Hersant’s Monteverdi-inspired film score for L’ombre d’un doute, each of which is interspersed independently through her varied programme.
Boulanger exhibits extraordinary command of her instrument throughout, playing with strong characterisation, commendable fantasy and a striking sensitivity to timbre. She deftly realises Hersant’s illustrative technical effects, notably his use of pizzicato (‘La harpe d’Orphée’) and col legno (‘Les ombres’), and she fully exploits his striking chiaroscuro writing in ‘Les esprits’, harmonics et al. She also revels in the contrasting sonorities and rhythmic buoyancy of Sinnhuber’s La dame d’onze heures and skilfully dispatches the extended contemporary techniques prescribed in Pesson’s La Fugitive.
She is equally at home in the more traditional gamba repertoire. The styles and characters of Sainte-Colombe’s D minor Suite and the various solos by Marais, Hotman and Machy are ingrained in her bones and she negotiates them with precision, rhythmic freedom and expressive warmth. Hotman’s pieces are especially sensitively delivered, benefiting from the use of a gut-strung, six-stringed viol. Alpha’s recording is clear, resonant and has a pleasing ambience.
ROBIN STOWELL
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