Description
Following the success of their award-winning debut album, La Peste, Les Barocudas period ensemble returns with Basta parlare! (Enough said!), a program exploring the dynamic, experimental musical style that swept 17th century Italy — in particular, works that showcase the violin and recorder.
Joining Les Barocudas’s trio, Marie-Nadeau Tremblay (violin), Tristan Best (viola da gamba), and Nathan Mondry (organ), are Vincent Lauzer, recorder; Antoine Malette-Chénier, baroque harp; Hank Knox, harpsichord; and Matthias Soly-Letarte, percussion. Basta parlare includes works by Italian baroque composers including Dario Castello, Giovanni Legrenzi, Tarquinio Merula, and Biagio Marini, among others, whose music was considered almost radical at the time.
“When Vincent Lauzer and I thought of making an album together, we knew from the start that we wanted to focus on music from 17th-century Italy, our repertoire of choice,” says Marie Nadeau-Tremblay. “No further discussion was needed: we had already reached an unspoken consensus. Lovers of 17th-century Italian music share an almost spiritual je ne sais quoi which brings them together—and sets them apart. We have a tacit understanding.”
“The 17th century was a period of exploration, invention, and research across all disciplines, including in music,” says Nadeau-Tremblay. “Vocal music, which had long dominated the spotlight, began to make way for technically complex instrumental forms that better suited this new paradigm—a music centered around virtuosity and lyricism. Thus came the title of this album, Basta parlare! which means “enough said!”
