Denis Gaultier - La Rhétorique des Dieux - Louis Pernot, lute

 

Release Date: October 24, 1995 Label: Accord Number of discs: 2 Composer: Denis Gaultier Performer: Louis Pernot  cd info/ buy

Review:

It is this balance between the line and the ornament, between the spoken and the silent, which is the charm of Louis' technique. A charm which is true to what it was in the 17th century, and not a pretense sentiment. The sound is ample, generous, but also feverish and plaintive (the instrument is entirely strung with gut strings). Here and there, a few notes vacillate, or seem to get lost in the deeps of the instrument... But what momentum, what firmness in the dance rhythms! What vehements in the discourse! Louis knows not only the possibilities of his instrument, but superbly masters the expressive power of his music. His lute not only sings or dances- though it does that, and very well- it also lives, it breathes, it speaks! Is that not the most divine rhetoric? If the technique of Hopkinson Smith may seem more sophisticated, that of Louis has no equal to tell the story with ease and spontaneity.--Francis Albou

 

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