Ricercar Consort, Philippe Pierlot - Marin Marais - Trios pour le coucher du Roy (2010)

This collection of Marais’ music was published in 1692 as “Trio Pieces for flutes, violins and dessus de viole,” the dessus being the second smallest of the viola de gamba family. (There was a pardessus de viole.) The notes here call this music “a totally different side of Marin Marais’ work,” for he composed these dance movements not for himself but for his companions, Read more à bec, which are accompanied variously by guitar or theorbo and harpsichord. I think it’s amusing to think of the king, any king, being enticed to sleep by dances, especially by such vigorous, cheerful stomps as the Bransle de village , but then there was little about France’s monarchs that wasn’t strange, and that little innocent dance is as appealing as anything here. The music reproduced consists of five suites of nine or 10 movements. It can be plaintive, sway sweetly, or, more rarely, bounce along blithely. Much of the music seems gravely decorous. It is played beautifully, the pairs of flutes providing a lovely texture over the strings and harpsichord. I don’t know any other recordings of these works, so it is easy to recommend this collection to interested parties.