Credits:

Le Poème Harmonique, Van den Nestle.

Description:

Le Poème Armonique has been active as the flagship group of the Alpha label since its inception, which has been called the "revolution of small-cap label" in France in the 21st century. This is an excellent project featuring carefully selected tracks from French Renaissance and early Baroque sources, including the masterpiece "Air de Coeur Trilogy," an early recording that is the realm of France's foremost antique music group. The presence of French music up to the early 17th century, before the arrival of the Sun King Louis XIV and his music director Lully, is a genre that has dramatically gained worldwide attention through the recordings of Le Poème Armonique, and this two-CD set represents the best of the French-based group. The tracks on the two CDs include some hard-to-find early material that has either been out of press for a long time or is only available in a box set. Although the title of the CD is "Airs de Coeur" (Court Songs), it also includes the Barre de Coeur (Court Dances), which is an essential part of the history of this genre.Many of the early members of the group, who have now left the group, have since become more and more prominent as old music soloists. The instrumentalists include such veteran virtuosos as Kaori Uemura and William Dongois. The book also includes a chronological table of French history, music, and culture to help readers deepen their understanding of the genre. Naxos Japan