The Queen's Delight François Lazarevitch, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien with Fiona McGown and Enea Sorini

• 1 Song: Bonny Kathern Loggy 04:12
• 2 Bellamira (After Solomon Eccles) – Greensleeves (After James Oswald) 03:30
• 3 Song: The Witty Western Lasse, to the Tune Called The Beggar Boy 05:29
• 4 Emperor of the Moon / Ormond House 03:25
• 5 Song: How Vile Are the Sordid Intrigues 02:58
• 6 Sefauchi's Farewell (After Henry Purcell) 05:09
• 7 Song: An Italian Ayre (Fuggi, Fuggi, Fuggi) [After Henry Lawes] 04:23
• 8 Nobody's Jig – Black and Grey – Where Will Our Goodman Lie – Maiden Lane 04:20
• 9 Song: Drive the Cold Winter Away 04:41
• 10 John Come Kiss Me Now (Variations by Thomas Baltzar, Christopher Simpson, David Mell, Solon Eccles) 06:21
• 11 Song: When Daphne from Fair Phoebus Did Fly 04:37
• 12 Scots Rant – Argiers (Variations After Jacob van Eyck) 04:55
• 13 Song: Mr Lane's Maggot 02:53
• 14 The Lord Monk's March – Hey to the Camp 03:18
• 15 Song: A Lad of the Town 03:36
• 16 Song: Bacchus's Health, On the Tune Paul's Steeple (Variations Published by John Playford and John Walsh) 04:31
• Total Runtime 01:08:18

Info for The Queen's Delight

Ohne Standesgrenzen: Das Album The Queen's Delight mit François Lazarevitch und seinem Ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien lässt uns eintauchen in die englischen Gesellschaft des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, als Balladen und Kontertänze das musikalische Empfinden prägten. Das Besondere dieser Musik ist, dass sie anders als auf dem Kontinent üblich soziales Allgemeingut war und keinerlei Standesunterschiede zu kennen schien. Sie wurde von der gesamten sozialen Leiter, von der Hocharistokratie bis hinunter zu den untersten Schichten getanzt, gespielt und gesungen, erklang bei Hofe ebenso wie im Pub. Und das galt auch für die Urheber: Unter den Komponisten der zahlreichen im Druck erhaltenen Sammlungen befinden sich neben den vielen anonym tradierten Melodien mit volksmusikalischem Ursprung auch geachtete Hofmusiker wie Henry Purcell. Literaten waren sich nicht zu schade, Texte für die Lieder zu liefern. Beim Entwickeln des Programms für The Queen s Delight ging Lazarevitch von den Melodien aus, die John Playford ab 1651 in seinem bekannten The English Dancing Master zusammengestellt hatte, wollte aber auch andere zeitgenössische Quellen einbeziehen, in denen dieselben Melodien bzw. deren Varianten vorkommen. Berücksichtigt wurden aber auch die extrem virtuosen Variationen für Blockflöte oder Violine, die man in England um 1700 oder in Holland im 17. Jahrhundert nach den populären Melodien veröffentlicht hat, und natürlich haben sich die Musiker auch zu eigenen Variationen inspirieren lassen. Das Ergebnis ist eine Produktion mit unwiderstehlicher Musik, bei der es damals wie heute unmöglich scheint, nicht den Drang zu verspüren, das Tanzbein zu schwingen oder zumindest mit dem Fuß zu wippen!

This programme reflects the full flavour and richness of English music and the instrumental and vocal repertory it inspired in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The rhythmic impulse of this repertory sometimes making use of ostinato culminates in the grounds, jigs, contredanses and so on that were all the rage at the time and led to the publication of John Playford's collection The English Dancing Master in 1651. Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, showing their familiarity with early sources from England, Scotland and Ireland, also emphasise the melodic aspect of these dances, which in the course of time became sung airs the soprano Fiona McGown and the baritone Enea Sorini complete a colourful instrumentarium. Finally, the light-hearted dimension of entertainment is present everywhere in this repertory, which was popular in the sense that it was universally practised at the time, achieving a fame that spread far beyond the British Isles.

François Lazarevitch, Mezzosopran
Enea Sorini, Bariton, Percussion, Dulcimer
Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien
Fiona McGown, Dirigent

François Lazarevitch
Although his primary instrument is the flute, from the outset, François Lazarevitch has concentrated his apprenticeships, research and musical practices on the diversity of sources, oral and written, which he deems necessary for recreating the early and Baroque repertoires today. Backed, since 2006, by the companionship of his Musiciens de Saint-Julien, to whom he passes on his craving for going ever further in comprehension, his taste for the discovery of forgotten repertoires and experimental curiosity about all cultures, he takes a singular new look at a whole chapter of our musical history. The driving force? Rhythm, this impulse born of dance and which calls more on what is felt than on what is written on paper and which must imbue all music with flexibility and in awareness. This is why his recordings of Bach’s Flute Sonatas (Alpha Classics, 2014, ‘Choc’ Classica) or Telemann’s Fantasias (Alpha Classics, 2017, ‘Choc’ Classica) surprise and charm with the eloquence, invention and refinement of his art of phrasing and ornamentation.

It must be said that while François Lazarevitch tackles early music and the flute with pioneers such as Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume, Barthold Kuijken and Pierre Séchet, he also approaches Indian music, has a passion for the Irish flute, and practices music of oral tradition with those who still perpetuate it locally. These fruitful encounters and explorations open up his own path, uncharted and demanding, which he travels, adding strings to his bow: today, he divides his time between the flute and the musette with equal virtuosity, the pastoral timbre having become emblematic of Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien. Artistic director of the ensemble, he conducts it on the French and international music scenes, recording innovative programmes for Alpha Classics, which are regularly acclaimed. He also enriches his experience through collaborations with Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert d’Astrée, Les Talens Lyriques, dancers and choreographers, stage directors and composers of today. An impassioned instrument collector and researcher, he publishes scores of unearthed repertoires. Finally, he teaches Baroque flute and musette at the Versailles Conservatory, eager to pass on what drives him: ‘the freedom of breath in the service of listening, understanding and energy’.

Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien
Their shared affinities with traditional repertoires and musicians enriched their earliest projects and echœd a whole scholarly archipelago of early and Baroque music – the same inventive feeling for colours, the same energy springing from danced movement, the same pœtic sensibility. Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien awaken slumbering musical collections – but not solely – in an approach both erudite and intuitive, rooted in folk practices and filtered through a demanding, virtuosic and passionate appropriation.

Everything in this alchemy is unique and identifies the ensemble even more than the reference to the brotherhood of violinist-dancers that gave it its name: the relief and elegance of the lines, the flexibility of the swaying phrasings, the richness of a rare early instrumentarium in which flutes and bagpipes stand out, the inner fire electrifying even the best-known works of Bach or Vivaldi, the naturalness of expression, which makes every interpretation so familiar yet so new.

In the course of some fifty concerts per year – upcoming: Salle Cortot (Paris), Le Quartz (Brest), Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Théâtre de Caen, Festival de Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache, Pouchkine Museum (Moscow), Wigmore Hall (London), Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci…, and thirteeen recordings on the Alpha Classics label, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien have reinforced a strong presence on the French and international scenes, unanimously praised by the public and specialised press alike.

Fiona McGown
hails from the small town of Chillicothe, Illinois. A Midwest native, Ms. McGowan attended Illinois Valley High School, where she developed her love of music through experiences in the school's marching band.

She continued her studies in Music Education and German at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. At the University of Dayton, Ms. McGowan was active in the concert, jazz, and marching bands. Some of her most memorable moments include performing with the First Flight Saxophone Quartet and as Drum Major in the Pride of Dayton Marching Band. After graduating in 2012, Ms. McGowan moved to Utah to join the faculty at Juan Diego Catholic High School and St. John the Baptist Middle School, where she is the Director of Bands.

Over the summer you can find Ms. McGowan teaching at various band camps throughout the country, including volunteering with the SWAG Team at the Music For All Summer Symposium.

Booklet for The Queen's Delight