Amour cruel

"‘Amour cruel’ provides a delightful glimpse of private music­making in mid-17th-century Paris. Half of this CD is devoted to six concerts for two bass viols by Sainte-Colombe‚ the other half to the melancholy airs de cour of Michel Lambert (Lully’s father­in­law) and Sébastien Le Camus (a viol player at court)... Napper and Margaret Little‚ as Les Voix Humaines‚ are at their finest in the Sainte-Colombe... their tone is resonant and infused with a lithe elegance... throughout they play with the precision‚ delicacy and poise that listeners have come to expect of them.

Suzette Leblanc’s interpretations of the airs de cour, enunciated as in the 17th century‚ also invite warm praise... Leblanc again produces a lovely‚ ethereal tone‚ supported by the sublime theorbo playing of Stephen Stubbs‚ that for me conjured up images by Watteau. However‚ her performance of Le Camus’ Je veux me plaindre is the highlight of the disc. Stubbs begins with three statements of the ground; Leblanc enters: her ornamentation of the first repeat of the ground took my breath away and the top notes of her second made my ears ring. And‚ as if that were not enough‚ the viols follow with further statements of the ground – taking parts originally intended for two voices – which for me throw new light on the origin of the pièce de viole. This is a thought-provoking recording, stocked with subtle music­making..." --GRAMOPOHONE