Always good to see the support of the Canadian Council for the Arts for this album. Bonus points for releasing it via this YouTube Playlist. Beautiful repertoire, charming performances, and historically interesting ensemble music make this an exciting new release.
I particularly enjoyed the Lhoyer sonata with violin showcasing some excellent ensemble writing and spirited playing. The piece and performance has some sweet moments of elegance but also fire and bite. This new album features four French romantic sonatas recorded in world premiere. These three-movement sonatas constitute a major addition to the classical guitar repertoire. They are perfect examples of the French romantic style: robust effects, melodic clarity, unexpected modulations preceded by harmonically static sections, and many dynamic contrasts.
Pascal writes:. Several French guitarists active at the turn of the 19th century praised playing without nails with fingertips , which provides a smooth, pleasing sound. I adopted this mode of playing to interpret the repertoire of this album as it seemed perfectly adapted to the French music of the early 19th century. Pascal Valois is dedicated to reviving enthusiasm for the guitar scene during the Romantic era. He performs music from the nineteenth-century repertoire by using various period instruments, ornamentation, stylistic practices of the period, as well as improvisation, which was customary in that era.
With the Montreal Baroque Orchestra, which he co-founded, Mr. Houle performed extensively in the Americas, Asia, and Europe both as soloist and orchestra player. As a musicologist, he has contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, among others, and prepares liner notes for many Classical CDs produced in Quebec and elsewhere.
Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar.
