In 1707 Joseph Marchand published his seven Suites de pièces mêlée[s] de sonates pour le violon et la basse. Now completely forgotten, Marchand was one of the king's musicians under Louis XIV, playing the basse de violon in the prestigious Chapelle Royale, the 24 Violons and the Petits Violons du Roi. He was renowned as a teacher, and as a musician he was gifted with a "very singular playing style". His suites were the first in the repertoire to make use of the perilous double trill. In some respects, his music bears witness to the Italianisation of musical tastes, but in the sheer abundance of his musical ideas, the beauty of his harmonies, his virtuosity, particularly in the bass parts, and his concern for the balance of forms and voices, Marchand is not so much an epigone as an heir to the art of Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe or François Couperin. Playing the violin, the pardessus de viole (the highest-pitched member of the viol family), the positive organ, the viola da gamba or the harpsichord, the h! trio - Martyna Pastuszka and Krzysztof and Anna Firlus - revive here a gem of the early eighteenth century, with all it's poetry and refinement of expression.
2 Marchand: Première Suite in a Sonate I Lentement
3 Marchand: Première Suite in a Vite
4 Marchand: Première Suite in a Rondeau Tendrement
5 Marchand: Première Suite in a Vite
6 Marchand: Première Suite in a Air Grave
7 Marchand: Première Suite in a Gavotte Tendrement
8 Marchand: Première Suite in a Air Gay
9 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Sonate Lentement
10 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Vite. Lentement
11 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Rondeau Gay
12 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Vite
13 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Air Louré
14 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Air Gay
15 Marchand: Deuxième Suite in B Dessein de Basse
16 Marchand: Troisième Suite in C Allemande
17 Marchand: Troisième Suite in C Sarabande
18 Marchand: Troisième Suite in C Rondeau
19 Marchand: Troisième Suite in C Air Lent
20 Marchand: Troisième Suite in C Première Et Deuxième Gavottes
21 Vo.2-Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Sonate
22 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Fugue
23 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Adagio
24 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Air Tendre
25 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Air Gay
26 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Air Par Accords Lentement
27 Marchand: Quatrième Suite in D Air Vite
28 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Sonate
29 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Fugue
30 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Air I
31 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Air II
32 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Gigue
33 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Air Tendre
34 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Air Gay
35 Marchand: Cinquième Suite in E Air Vite
36 Vol.3-Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Sonate
37 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Fugue
38 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Air I
39 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Air II
40 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Vivement
41 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Allemande
42 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Prélude Ou Dessein de Basse
43 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Chaconne
44 Marchand: Sixième Suite in F Sicilienne
45 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Sonate
46 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Air Tendre
47 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Rondeau
48 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Allemande
49 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Air Grave
50 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Rondeau Et Double
51 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Air Tendre Lentement
52 Marchand: Septième Suite in G Chaconne
In 1707 Joseph Marchand published his seven Suites de pièces mêlée[s] de sonates pour le violon et la basse. Now completely forgotten, Marchand was one of the king's musicians under Louis XIV, playing the basse de violon in the prestigious Chapelle Royale, the 24 Violons and the Petits Violons du Roi. He was renowned as a teacher, and as a musician he was gifted with a "very singular playing style". His suites were the first in the repertoire to make use of the perilous double trill. In some respects, his music bears witness to the Italianisation of musical tastes, but in the sheer abundance of his musical ideas, the beauty of his harmonies, his virtuosity, particularly in the bass parts, and his concern for the balance of forms and voices, Marchand is not so much an epigone as an heir to the art of Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe or François Couperin. Playing the violin, the pardessus de viole (the highest-pitched member of the viol family), the positive organ, the viola da gamba or the harpsichord, the h! trio - Martyna Pastuszka and Krzysztof and Anna Firlus - revive here a gem of the early eighteenth century, with all it's poetry and refinement of expression.