In contrast to their Italian colleagues, the French instrumental virtuosos sought and found the expressiveness of their art in an internalized tonal language at the turn of the 17th to 18th century, which set its accents not least through a subtly notated art of ornamentation. Alongside the muted sounds of the lute, the noble tone of the viola da gamba became their symbol, often in conjunction with the noble brilliance of the harpsichord. The gambist Holger Faust-Peters and the harpsichordist Irén Lill explore this contemplative language in the music of the court gambists Marin Marais and his keyboard colleague François Couperin. The latter's Suite in A major for viola da gamba and basso continuo is intended as a tribute to the recently deceased Marais and concludes with a hopeful glance at the afterlife: the movement "La chemise blanche." Furthermore, three modern compositions turn to the sensitive strings of the two instruments.

The concert will be recorded by WDR3.

6:45 PM Concert introduction On the same evening, the concert by the Ensemble Hourglass "Heavenly Bodies - Spherical Harmonies and Microtonalities between Renaissance and Modern" will take place from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM at VENTANA. Combination tickets for both events are available.

Line-up:

focus baroque Holger Faust-Peters – viola da gamba Irén Lill – harpsichord

Program:

Contemporary compositions by Paolo Pandolfo and Tõnu Kõrvits (with world premiere) as well as music by François Couperin and Marin Marais