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JANSMUSIC RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Jupiter (Music by Jean-Baptiste Antoine Forqueray)
Charivari Agreable Simfonie
Signum SIGCD008
Orchestral Transcriptions & Chamber Music - Extracts from PIeces de viole (Paris 1747)

I'd never come across Forqueray before, but I was absolutely entranced by this CD the moment I heard it, and it's probably been played more times than anything in my collection.  The fact I can sing along faultlessly to a lot of the tracks is proof of the pudding.

Charivari's byword seems to be innovation. Even when they are recording more well-known works such as Byrd and Purcell they manage to do something special. Here they have taken excerpts from Forqueray's Pieces de Viole of 1747, transcribed for chamber orchestra and turned them into an exciting and fun CD.  

If I had to pin down one characteristic of this CD I would say it is that there is such enjoyment in the playing. The group sound like they are loving every minute - which makes for really compulsive listening. The work is divided up into 4 Divertissements, the movements within all possessing intriguing names and each with different characters, with lots of opportunities for the players to enjoy solo moments. I love the the first and title track, Jupiter, which has the air of film music about it, and reminds me very much of the 6th Brandenburg, with its lovely dark string sound, and there's more of this dark rich sound in track  9 La Sainscy. Overall there's a nice mixture of gentler movements and more energetic playing, and different textures.  My favourite is track 4 La Bouron (track 4) - I like the way the parts move and interact together. Don't take my word for it - just buy it and see what I mean!