Bach sous les tilleuls

Description

En pushing the doors of the Café Zimmermann in Leipzig in the 1730s, it was not uncommon to attend concerts organized by the famous Johann Sebastian Bach surrounded by his sons and friends. On the menu: coffee, liqueurs, and pastries, sonatas and concertos! During the beautiful season, escaping the heat, amateurs and virtuosos gathered in the gardens of the Grimma gate to enjoy the evening's sweetness. By offering new transcriptions for two harpsichords of concertos by Bach and Vivaldi, Loris Barrucand and Clément Geoffroy invite us to renew our perspective on this music that is both scholarly and flamboyant. Under the linden trees of Leipzig, a cup of coffee in hand, the great Bach awaits you!
It is precisely during this period that Johann Sebastian Bach composed his harpsichord concertos, including three for two harpsichords, two for three harpsichords, and one for four harpsichords, a sign that the enthusiasm for this instrument must have been extraordinary! All these works are very atypical for the time, even unique in their kind. One can think that they made a strong impression on their listeners as well as on their performers since all of Bach's sons, and some of his students, later composed for two harpsichords, making this musical dynasty the most prolific in this area.
BIO EXPRESS
Children of the remarkable baroque flourishing of the 1990s, Clément Geoffroy and Loris Barrucand discovered the harpsichord through the radio, the records of Scott Ross, Blandine Verlet, Pierre Hantaï, and during the summer festivals in Brittany and Savoie. But it was in Paris that they met in 2011 within the harpsichord class of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 2014, after some experiments and joyful duo concerts, they made their first steps by collaborating with baroque dance companies. This is the beginning of a collaboration that leads them to respond to a commission from Hervé Niquet, from which they will produce their first album for two harpsichords "Les Caractères d’Ulysse," released in 2020 for the CVS label. Then, in 2023, a new duo program dedicated to Middle Eastern mythologies in the operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau appears under the title "Fêtes Persanes."