狂おしい恋人

もの悲しくも美しい高尚な憂鬱。
ヴァイオリンとリュートで奏でる17世紀の作品集!

現在フランスを中心に活躍する若手奏者、ヴァイオリンのテオティム・ラングロワ・ド・スワルテとリュートのトマ・ダンフォールのデュオのアルバム「狂おしい恋人」。この録音のアイディアが生まれたのは二人がヴァイオリンとリュートのための作品を研究する中で、ジョン・エクルズの「グラウンド」を見つけすぐにレパートリーにしたことがきっかけになったとのこと。この作品はアルバム・タイトルにもなっているジョン・エクルズの組曲『狂おしい恋人』からの作品。演奏時間3分ほどの付帯音楽ながらその官能的な世界に誘います。その旋律は、かの有名な"ヴィターリのシャコンヌ"の冒頭を連想させ、変奏的に色彩豊かに奏でられます。その他パーセル、ニコラ・マッテイス、マッテイスJr.、ヘンリー・エクルズの作品を見事に編み込んだ選曲となっております。どこかもの悲しい、しかしその美しい旋律が魅力であり、"高尚な憂鬱"と表現できるアルバムです。
キングインターナショナル

Inasmuch as there is a play called The Mad Lover by Shakespeares younger contemporary John Fletcher, and that a few of the pieces here are connected to the play, one might assume that this release by violinist Theotime Langlois de Swarte and lutenist Thomas Dunford offered incidental music to the play. It does not, and most of it has no connection to Fletchers work. Instead, The Mad Lover is an indicator of general mood, much like the title of a conceptual rock album, suggesting the deep currents of passion that were associated with the new violin music entering England from Italy in the early 18th century. This might seem a bit vague, but the performances are superb. The music mixes sonatas, suites, a variation set, and shorter pieces, including two from The Mad Lover Suite of John Eccles, from English and Italian composers who are, for the most part, hardly known. Henry Purcell is present, but most of the music is from the next generation, including that of his cousin (or brother) Daniel Purcell. Nicola Matteis, one of the earliest of the Italian musicians to seek his fortune in England, is represented by a suite and several smaller pieces; the suite includes a fascinating Turkish gigue. Especially here, but really throughout, the players put across just how exotic and affecting this music must have seemed to London audiences when it came on the scene. It is as if the old English value of musical melancholy were given a new musical garment and a revival of spirit. About the only objection here is chilly, unidiomatic church sound, but this release, the debut of Langlois de Swarte, announces a major new violinistic talent.