The popularity of the film Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) has revived the fortunes of a shadowy composer named Sainte-Colombe, who was active in the late seventeenth century. The film was largely fictitious, but subsequent research, much of it nicely summarized in the notes to this disc, has shed light on who Sainte-Colombe might have been and has actually backed up some of the guesses made by filmmakers and by novelist Pascal Quignard, on whose book Tous les matins du monde was based. Various viol players have recorded his duets, and the Montreal pair of Susie Napper and
Margaret Little, recording here under the name of their larger ensemble
Les Voix Humaines, herewith continue a series of Sainte-Colombe's complete works for "deux violes esgales," two equal viols. The music, meditative and deep-voiced, is informatively presented and energetically played. Napper and
Little do not accomplish, or attempt, the slightly mystical quality of
Jordi Savall's playing on the film soundtrack. But they capture the intimate feeling of dialogue in these duets. These pieces, anywhere from one to eight movements in length, generally begin with an Ouverture that may be as long as the rest of the movements, usually short dances, put together. Each piece takes its name from this opening movement, which, unlike the descriptive pieces of
Couperin or
Rameau, often has an abstract title referring indirectly to the structure of the music itself. Some of the connections between title and musical qualities here are rather tenuous; the one called Rougeville simply bears the name of a woman who played it well. But each "concert" has the flavor of a unique conversation between two individuals. It is this quality that Napper and
Little effectively capture. Their tempos are generally brisk, but each player has space to emerge as an individual. The various discs in this series do not differ drastically from one another, but this is a good one with which to begin the series, or indeed the music of Sainte-Colombe in general.