La Messagère
XVIIe-XXI siècles, Un Portrait de La Viol de Gambe
Lucile Boulanger (viole de gambe)
rec. 2024, Saint-Trond, Belgium; Juvigny, France
Alpha Classics 1070 [78]

Reviewing music played on a single viola da gamba is, for me, both an absolute delight and an almost intractable problem. An absolute delight because, when played well (as it supremely is on this disc) it is hard not let it become an act of meditation, with a sense of stillness which turns the mind and the senses inward in a way which seems to exclude judgement of any kind and to become a pleasant acceptance of self. It has, therefore, taken repeated hearings of La Messagère for me to feel capable of writing about it and not simply to be absorbed by it.

From the haunting opening of Sieur de Sainte Colombe’s Prélude to his suite in D minor to the final bars of Marais’ chaconne which closes the CD, Lucile Boulanger’s playing is extraordinarily beautiful. This is the work of a highly intelligent and sensitive musician, characterised by her flexible rhythms and well-judged expressivity.

The disc is programmed in a striking way; its contents range in date from the seventeenth century (as in the Suite by Nicolas Hotman, of whom Boulanger says “He is unfairly neglected – together with André Maugars, he was the founding father of that great line of French gamba players: he taught Demachy and Sainte-Colombe (who in turn taught Marais)”, to 2024 (‘La Fugitive’ by Gérard Persson). Boulanger is fully convincing in all of the chosen repertoire. Persson’s piece, though it is thoroughly ‘modern’ in many ways also evidences what Boulanger says in the booklet’s interview – “Gérard Persson […] unites in his work the characteristic qualities of the French Baroque: precision, minimalism, elegance, restraint, and an extreme expressivity, but without any exaggeration”. Persson’s La Fugitive was commissioned by Philharmonie de Paris and is dedicated to Boulanger, while Claire-Mélanie de Sinhuber’s La Dame d’onze Heures, also dedicated to Boulanger, was commissioned by Radio France. Ten minutes long, Sinhuber’s piece employs a series of changing rhythmic patterns and numerous modifications of texture. One can sense Lucile Boulanger’s pleasure in playing this remarkable piece (she talks of it as “sparkling and light-footed”) – a pleasure I found myself sharing fully.

The third ‘modern’ work uses individual movements taken from Philippe Hersant’s suite L’Ombre d’un Doute, written for a documentary film directed by Michel van Zeyle, Les Caravages de Philippe de Béthune – L’ombre d’un doute. Some background: Philippe de Béthune (1565-1649) was a diplomat and art collector (amongst many other things), who is known to have arranged Caravaggio’s release from a Roman prison in 1603. The film considers the attribution to Caravaggio (rather than to a follower of the Italian artist) of two paintings very much in his style, which are now in the church of St. Antoine in the town of Loches, not far from the city of Tours in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. The two paintings, L’Incredulité de St Thomas and La Cène à Emmaus are known to have been bought by de Béthune early in the 1600s and may be variants (painted by Caravaggio) of the famous and much-admired paintings with the same titles. Their authenticity has, however, been much debated.

Hersant’s suite for the film essentially reflects key moments in the story of Orpheus and the music repeatedly alludes to Monteverdi’s Orfeo. As such, it is eminently suitable that it should be played on the viola da gamba. Boulanger plays five movements from the suite, though not consecutively. The pieces are, rather, interspersed with other works on the disc (see the list of works at the close of this review). ‘Fanfare’ echoes the opening bars of Monteverdi’s opera, while ‘La Harpe d’Orphée’ (played entirely pizzicato) alludes to the “great solo aria sung by the hero in Hades”, to quote Hersant and, again, is played entirely pizzicato. By way of contrast ‘Ombres’ is largely played con legno – i.e. with the strings hit by the wood of the bow. The last piece from Hersant’s suite is very aptly described by its composer as being “in chiarascuro style…, evoking Caravaggio’s tragic death. It is a struggle between shadow and light, between a powerful oppressive lower region, and the angelic purity of heaven-high harmonies”. It is worth mentioning that Caravaggio’s paintings were much admired for their dramatic contrasts of light and dark, i.e. chiaroscuro) More than once, I programmed my CD player to play just these five pieces consecutively – and they work superbly.

Elsewhere, highlights (though the word might be applied to everything on the disc) include the Suite by Nicholas Hotman, in four short movements (Ballet–Courante et sons variations– Sarabande et sa variations–Gigue et ses variations) – all prefaced by a Prélude by Dubuisson (c.1622-c.1680); this is a work of considerable beauty, profound and weighty, full of subtle textural variety as played by Lucile Boulanger. Though of German origins, Nicolas Hotman established himself at the French court as a viol player, composer and lutenist. We don’t hear as much of his complex and inventive music as we should. But this is a delightful exception. Lucile Boulanger says of him “In the 1680s, how to define the aesthetic of the French viol was already the cause of heated arguments. But everyone agreed on a single common model: that of Nicholas Hotman, who was active in the years 1630-1660”. His work is one of the ‘fixed points’, as it were, in this time-travelling programme.

Every single work on this disc is played persuasively and with absolute conviction. Lucile Boulanger is a brilliant advocate for this music, ancient or modern, and in the process demonstrates that the distinction may be irrelevant. To quote her booklet interview (with Claire Boisteau) one last time: “I would like to think that today, in 2024, proof is no longer needed that my instrument is a fully integral part of our musical landscape. The viola da gamba is indeed alive and well, and for several decades now it has been inspiring new compositions, with its vocabulary constantly expanding”. Her claim is proven beyond doubt on La Messagère.

For the album’s success we can, very obviously, thank the discipline, skill and controlled passion of Lucile Boulanger’s playing and the composers (dead or alive) whose music she plays on this album. But thanks are due to several others too: to the instrument maker François Bodart, who created the instrument played on this disc – a 2006 copy of a bass viol made by the Hamburg luthier Joachim Tielke (1641-1719), dated 1699. On this disc it is fitted with 6 or 7 gut strings as befits different compositions. But a viol and its player are mute without a bow to connect them. On page 26 of the booklet accompanying the disc, Ms. Boulanger opens her acknowledgements thus “My heartfelt thanks to the generous Peter Braam for offering me this magic bow”. The bow is, after all, essential for the creation and communication of all the poetry Lucile Boulanger finds throughout the repertoire on this disc. That we are able to share that poetry through the first-class quality of the recording, my profound gratitude goes to Aline Blondiau, credited as “Record Producer, editing & Mastering”. The recorded sound is well-nigh perfect, clear and resonant (though never excessively so) and sustains a thoroughly appropriate acoustic.

Glyn Pursglove

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Contents
Sieur de Sainte Colombe (d.c.1690)
Manuscrit de Tournus (c.1690)
Suite in D minor
Philippe Hersant (b.1948)
L’Ombre d’un Doute (2008)
Fanfare
Claire Mélanie Sinnhuber (b.1973)
La Dame d’onze heures (2022)
Philippe Hersant (b.1948)
L’Ombre d’un Doute (2008)
II. La Messagère
Nicholas Hotman ou Hauttemant (d.1663)
Manuscrit de Cracovie
Suite in D minor
Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Pièces à une et trois violes, Quatrième Livre (1717)
L’Arabesque
Philippe Hersant (b.1948)
L’Ombre d’un Doute (2008)
III. Les Ombres
Gerard Pesson (b.1958)
La Fugitive (2024)
Philippe Hersant (b.1948)
L’Ombre d’un Doute (2008)
IV, La Harpe d’Orphée
Sieur Demachy (d.1692)
Pièces de Violle (1685)
Prélude
Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Pièces à une et trois violes, Premier Livre (1686)
Allemande – Sarabande – Gigue
Sieur Demachy (d.1692)
Pièces de Violle (1685)
Gavotte – Menuet
Philippe Hersant (b.1948)
L’Ombre d’un Doute (2008)
V. Les Esprits
Marin Marais ‘
Pièces à une et trois violes, Premier Livre (1686)
Suite in D minor
Prélude – Chaconne