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Jordi Savall and Music for a French King

Throughout his career, Jordi Savall has been a passionate champion of early French music—as a soloist, director, and ensemble member—especially on the Alia Vox label. One of the more remarkable recordings from the repertoire is entitled “Orchestra of Louis XIII,” which covers the era before the "Sun King" and surveys the various kinds of instrumental music heard at court. The music looks back at the Renaissance while beginning to settle into the Baroque.

For Savall’s venture into orchestral music from the court of Louis XIV, the program naturally called for dance music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, the king’s favorite composer, and in particular, music from a few of his more prominent theater collaborations. The ensemble Les Concert des Nations brings out the spirit of the music with flair and poetry.

The most recent Jordi Savall recording to feature early music from France is devoted to the Concert Spirituel, a special concert series founded in Paris during the reign of Louis XV. The program focuses on three immensely popular composers heard throughout the life of the series, including Arcangelo Corelli, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Georg Philipp Telemann. Savall not only directs, but appears as soloists in a vibrant performance of Telemann’s "Ouverture and Suite in D major for viola da gamba and strings."

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