Philippe Pierlot - Meditation (2022)

What a treat to have a first solo album from Philippe Pierlot, the Belgian viola da gamba player best known for being the director of the Ricercar Ensemble, and what a double treat for it then to sound so absolutely ravishing.

In programming terms alone, “Meditation” is a joy for its combination of variety and musicological storytelling. A charting of the viola da gamba’s time in the sun via the music of its finest exponents, it opens with a selection of airs from Tobias Hume’s (1579-1645) The First Part of Ayres of 1605, which was the first complete collection of pieces for solo viola da gamba to be published on British shores. From there it’s a hop over the Channel to celebrate the instrument’s heyday in France. First for a handful of sarabandes and courantes, plus a chaconne, from Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (1640-1700). Then Les Voix humaines by Marin Marais (1656-1728), before returning to British shores for a few pieces by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787), whose love for the fast-becoming-unfashionable viol saw him adapt his own pre-Classical style to something closer to that of his family friend and onetime teacher Johann Sebastian Bach. Pierlot then winds things up with his own transcriptions of two German works – the Prélude, Sarabande and Menuet from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, and a Meditation for harpsichord piece that Johann Jakob Froberger wrote on a trip to Paris in 1660.
Tracklist
1. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 72. A Meditation (2:59)
2. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 44. A Humorous Pauin (4:00)
3. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 11. Harke, Harke (2:02)
4. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 26. A Question - No. 27. An Aunswere (4:21)
5. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 10. Be Merry a Day Will Come - No. 89. Beccus an Hungarian Lord His Delight (5:30)
6. The First Part of Ayres, French, Pollish and Others: No. 100. I Am Melancholy (6:06)
7. Pièces de viole, Tournus Manuscript: No. 91. Sarabande (2:08)
8. Pièces de viole, Tournus Manuscript: No. 93. Courante (1:37)
9. Pièces de viole, Tournus Manuscript: No. 49. Courante - No. 50. Double (3:03)
10. Pièces de viole, Tournus Manuscript: No. 83. Sarabande - No. 84. Double (3:42)
11. Pièces de viole, Tournus Manuscript: No. 48. Chaconne (3:45)
12. Pièces de viole, Livre 2 - Suite No. 3 in D Major: No. 63. Les Voix Humaines (Lentement) (6:09)
13. Piece in D Minor, WK 205. Arpeggio (2:28)
14. Piece in D Minor, WK 206 (3:22)
15. Adagio in D Minor, WK 209 (3:40)
16. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude (2:24)
17. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: IV. Sarabande (2:51)
18. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: V. Menuets I & II (3:52)
19. Partita in D Major, FbWV 620: I. Meditation faite sur ma mort future, laquelle se joüe lentement avec discrétion - Memento mori Froberger (5:52)