French music, including Lully's works, is characterized by dance, ornament, and color, reflecting the complexity of court ceremonial where the sovereign and nobility participated in dance interludes.
Performer Biography
Elena Sartori, the conductor, has an international career as an organ soloist and conductor, with notable recordings including the first on original baroque instruments of Pergolesi's Psalms.
Compositional Technique
The phonetic nature of the French language, with its accentuation on the last and penultimate syllable, shapes the syntax of French music, concentrating the energy of the musical phrase towards its end.
Composer Biography
Jean-Baptiste Lully, though born in Florence, Italy, rejected his original nationality and native culture to establish himself within the French court at Versailles, becoming a French composer.
Recording & Production
The conductor, Elena Sartori, decided to include a violone in the ensemble, even though its first recorded use in a French orchestra was a decade after Lully's death, to support the double chorus and emphasize percussive effects.
Compositional Technique
The essence of the French style, as heard in Lully's music, is its characteristic dotted rhythm, known as 'inégalité', which affects both instrumental and vocal parts.
Performer Biography
The Allabastrina Choir and Consort is an ensemble known for its deep knowledge of musical scores and performs worldwide, with a repertoire spanning from early 17th-century Italian opera to the mid-18th century.
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