L’Escadron Volant de la Reine

L’Escadron Volant de la Reine – Kapsberger in Rome, 1610 ‘Il Tedesco’ (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:32 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Roman accounts of the nobleman Kapsperger reveal a highly eccentric musician: a virtuoso theorbist, a singer, a successful composer, he was said to be arrogant, even irascible.

A character straight out of a novel, as the musicians of L’Escadron Volant de la Reine present him in their first album on harmonia mundi, aided and abetted by a distinguished partner: on this colourful disc, the madrigals, villanellas and arias of ‘Il Tedeschino’ (The German) meet the literary fantasy of the writer Carl Norac.

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L’Escadron Volant de la Reine – Notturno (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:29 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Evidence (LTR)

L’Escadron Volant de la Reine, “the Queen’s Flying Squadron” was created by Antoine Touche, l’Escadron Volant de la Reine gathers together young professional musicians, fond of Baroque music. All former students from European superior conservatoires, they are linked by a deep friendship and it’s very naturally that they came together in January 2012.

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L’Escadron Volant de la Reine – Il Furibondo ou les tribulations d’un Italien à Londres (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:10 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © B Records

In putting together this programme, the ensemble L’Escadron Volant de la Reine (which takes its curious name from that of a group of ladies-in-waiting for Catherine de’ Medici) has taken Geminiani’s life itself as the main argument, from his youth in Italy to the end of his life in Dublin, with ample stopovers in Paris and London. When we examine our protagonist’s biography, we discover an eccentric, flamboyant character, just like his music. Il Furibondo, as his students used to call him – the Enraged or the Fulminating, some nickname indeed! – has never ceased to amaze. L’Escadron did not want to string together the usual and slightly pedestrian album offering five or six Concerti, but instead took a peek into the composer’s repertoire to build from scratch a framework with pieces in all the styles and genres which Geminiani explored: the Galant Style; the Dance; the Fugue; the traditional Irish song; the Aria; the Recitation; the Tempest; or the English-style Ground Bass… Some further composers appear in this musical biography: Haendel, whom Geminiani admired for his vocal works (hence an instrumental version of one of Haendel’s most famous arias, Lascia ; Avison, an English contemporary; and finally, Corelli, Il Furibondo’s own teacher. By turns, each member of the Escadron takes the floor as a soloist and puts forward his or her character to portray the different aspects of Geminiani’s fascinating life.

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L’Escadron Volant de la Reine – Miserere (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:23 minutes | 1,32 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Oktav Records

“The sound balance of the Queen’s Flying Squadron, the perfect fusion between voices and instruments, the care paid to the dynamics and the articulation of the sound, restore an extremely captivating reading of the sacred music of the 17th and 18th centuries. “

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