Marin Marais: Folies d’Espagne & Pièces de viole Jay Bernfeld & Fuoco E Cenere

• Marin Marais (1656 - 1728): Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III:
• 1Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: I. Prélude01:18
• 2Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: II. Fantaisie00:41
• 3Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: III. Allemande02:30
• 4Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: IV. Courante01:43
• 5Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: V. Sarabande02:25
• 6Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: VI. Gigue et La Même, avec basse varié01:23
• 7Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: VII. Rondeau02:32
• 8Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: VIII. Plainte03:04
• 9Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: IX. Chaconne02:37
• 10Suite en Ré Majeur, Livre III: X. Charivary02:31
• Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V:
• 11Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: I. Prélude01:34
• 12Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: II. Fantaisie00:44
• 13Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: III. Allemande02:47
• 14Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: IV. Sarabande02:44
• 15Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: V. Menuet01:02
• 16Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: VI. Gigue la Pagode02:03
• 17Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: VII. Rondeau02:47
• 18Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: VIII. Tombeau05:42
• 19Suite en Sol Mineur, Livre V: IX. Chaconne03:24
• Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II:
• 20Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 1 à 502:59
• 21Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 6 à 901:57
• 22Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 10 à 1302:32
• 23Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 14 à 2003:33
• 24Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 21 à 2804:44
• 25Couplets de Folies d'Espagne, Livre II: Couplets 29 à 3202:38
• Total Runtime01:01:54

Info for Marin Marais: Folies d’Espagne & Pièces de viole

The musical identities of many composers are inseparable from the instrument they play. Think of Chopin and the piano. This is particularly true of the baroque composers, and modern day players of these instruments experience a camaraderie that defies time and place. We think of them as family. Some of them still require super human physical or intellectual efforts to understand their works or make them sound. Others, such as Marin Marais, my companion of over four decades, speak to us simply and immediately, his voice crystal clear.

More generous than most of his contemporaries in providing fingerings, bowings and even vibrato indications, his familiar voice guides us well through his many pieces for the bass viol. As company for the present journey through this wonderful repertoire, I have had the great good fortune to count as my fellow travellers Ronald Martin Alonso, Bertrand Cuiller and André Henrich, whom I fondly salute. It is difficult to describe the pleasure I have had sharing this music with them, and thanks to them, with you as you listen.

Nineteen years ago I was invited to play the Folies d’Espagne in Coral Gables, Florida. Thanks to these masterpiece variations I forged an immediate and long lasting bond with the Tropical Baroque Music Festival and its founder Kathy Gaubatz. This recording is dedicated to my friend Kathy, who would have been thrilled to attend the recording sessions at the church in Lassay-sur-Croisne, near the Château du Moulin, the home of friends she lovingly referred to as her „French Family“. …

Jay Bernfeld, viola da gamba, direction
Ronald Martin Alonso, viola da gamba
André Henrich, theorbo
Bertrand Cuiller, harpsichord

Jay Bernfeld
is increasingly admired as a performer of great expressivity on the viola da gamba. He is widely acclaimed as a soloist and continuo player, and for his performances of ornamental and improvisatory styles. Award winning releases of Pièces des Violes by Antoine Forqueray and François Couperin as well as the Folies d’Espagne of Marin Marais and a premiere recording of works by Johannn Schenk have received extravagant praise in the international press.

As a teenager Jay Bernfeld witnessed hundreds of live performances of the great singers, foremost among them Renata Tebaldi. It is largely due to his appreciation of the dramatic voice that he has developed a new perspective on the performance of earlier repertoires. He has served as assistant conductor to maestro David Stern for productions of Mozart”s Nozze di Figaro and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the festival d’Aix-en-Provence and at the Opéra de Rouen. With Skip Sempe and the Capriccio Stravagante, of which he is a founding member, he has directed la Pellegrina and Gagliano’s Dafne at Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico; his production of Monteverdi’s Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria was chosen to inaugurate the Dimitri Mitropulos Concert Hall at the Athens Music Palace.

Devoted to the privileged association of voices and viols the group Fuoco e Cenere, which Mr. Bernfeld directs, has appeared at major festivals in Europe, Israel, and the Americas.

Fuoco E Cenere
Now in its fifteenth year, Fuoco E Cenere has established itself as an arena for sensational musical adventures. The ensemble has ever since retained an often remarked daring in its choice of repertoire. Eager to preserve the unique freshness of the concert-going experience Fuoco E Cenere has devised quite a number of original entertainments, including recent intriguing mixes of music and puppetry, or music and haute cuisine.

Story telling through song and translating emotions and dreams into music are the missions we have readily accepted. In our musical laboratory we eagerly juxtapose, metamorphose outstanding works, permitting the listener to view these gems of a bygone era in a new light, frequently imagining entertainments that delight both young and old, the novice and the connoisseur.

Spurred on by director Jay Bernfeld’s love of song, Fuoco E Cenere has been pleased to collaborate with many of today’s finest voices as well as the stars of tomorrow. The ensemble is proud to have presented several forgotten masterpieces to an appreciative public. Fuoco E Cenere is 10 recording covering 1000 years of music.

Its first recording, Fantasy in Blue - Purcell meets Gershwin, was hailed by Le Monde as a « veritable knock-out ». The ensemble’s recording of Marco da Gagliano’s little known masterpiece La Dafne was awarded the prestigious Orphée d’Or by the Académie du Disque Lyrique, and unanimously lauded by international critics. Our most recent recording, Judith & Esther, divine destinies, recounts the universal stories of two biblical super-women, who with force and tenderness vanquished oppression and injustice.

Booklet for Marin Marais: Folies d’Espagne & Pièces de viole