Search - Marin Marais, Mitzi Meyerson, Sarah Cunningham :: Marin Marais: Pieces de Violes - Les Folies; Le Labryinthe

Virtuosity, Strength and Musicianship, but Little Passion or

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 12/18/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Marin Marais (1656 - 1728): Pièces de violes: Suite in G from Book III; Le Labyrinthe from Book IV; Tombeau pour M. Lully and Couplet de Folies (both from Book II). Sarah Cunningham, viola da gamba; Mitzi Meyerson, harpsichord; Ariane Maurette, second viola da gamba. Bass viols by Jacobus Henricus Goldt, Hamburg 1741, and David Rubio, Cambridge 1986. Recorded at Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, England in 1987. Published in 1989 as ASV CD GAU 112. Total playing time: 49'25".



Sarah Cunningham's solo debut on ASV is certainly a good listen and provides a good beginner's introduction to the viol works of the legendary Marin Marais, with Sarah Cunningham's helpful notes assisting the listener to hear some of the beauties of these works. Her interpretation appears, however, to be somewhat laid-back and does not strike me as being either as personal or as "passionate" (to quote the title of one of her later recitals) as it ought perhaps to have turned out. Possibly, this is the fault of the recording engineer(s), whose typically eighties' sound is a little distant, does not really differentiate enough spatially between the players and tends to push the accompaniments forward to the disadvantage of the soloist. Sarah Cunningham's choice of pieces is by no means intended to widen the Marais repertoire; instead, she aims at new listeners and plays some of Marais's best-known and well-loved works with the intention of making them "classics". The program is therefore a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it offers fascinating music with which it is easy to identify, on the other hand it invites comparison with similar recordings. The older generation, Jordi Savall and Wieland Kuijken, are still, perhaps, the standard for this repertoire, but I would also recommend looking at some of the younger viola da gamba players who have recorded French viol music in the time which has elapsed since this CD was made; in particular, the Finnish player Markku Luolajan-Mikkola with a selection from Marais's second book on BIS would seem to be a better choice in many ways, both because of the suave interpretation and the superior engineering (ASIN: B0000269VE - currently not available on Amazon's U.S. site).



Perhaps I may be permitted to quote here from a review which appeared some years ago in an internationally respected magazine: "The Labyrinthe and the Couplets de Folies are long and demanding works which amply demonstrate Cunningham's virtuosity, strength and musicianship. She gives unfailingly scrupulous readings of the text, though she might have infused more wit and abandon here and there in the Labyrinthe, whose gravement might have been enhanced by an attitude of mock pathos. Only in the couplets, which are so deeply gratifying to play, does she seem really to enjoy herself.""