The dangerous liaisons by Anne Marie Dragosits ECL2402E

Artists :  Anne Marie Dragosits, harpsichord Kroll, Lyon 1770

Program : works by Claude Balbastre (1724-1799), Armand-Louis Couperin (1727-1789), Antoine et Jean-Baptiste Forqueray (1672-1744 et 1699-1782), Pierre Février (1696-1760), Bernard de Bury (1720-1785), Charles de Mars (1702-1774), Jean-Baptiste Barrière (1707-1747) , Joseph-Hector Fiocco (1703-1741), Pancrace Royer (1703-1755) et Christophe Moyreau (1700-1774)

Acces to streaming platforms

Accès to the digital booklet

Joseph-Hector Fiocco Adagio
Pancrace Royer Vertigo

Over the centuries, Choderlos le Laclos’ Les Liaisons dangereuses has transported countless readers back to the decadent atmosphere of the French aristocracy shortly before the Revolution.

 

The present musical reading of this cornerstone of French literature is by its nature a very personal reading; it is “my” version of the story and probably also, as I discovered while selecting and working on this programme, a version that is close to the emotional world of its female characters. Tender pieces are juxtaposed with dramatic ones, some describe external events, others describe an inner emotional state. This mixture of well-known and relatively unknown works has come about by chance, as it were, presented here in a context that was not necessarily intended for them when they were written.

 

Throughout much of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, readers might think that they are reading a romance novel. But who loves whom? Which feelings resist all the entanglements of the novel? Which other feelings, not expressed, are hidden behind these letters?

 

The programme opens by introducing the characters, none of whom has any idea yet of the tragic end to the entangle-ments that are about to unfold over the course of this five movement suite.

 

The harpsichord built by Christian Kroll (1747-1782) in Lyon in 1770, with its special sound qualities, was the final arbiter in the choice of pieces for this recording. Although a mid-18th century instrument with a “classical” French disposition, it has an astonishing variety of different tone colours: a somewhat nasal upper manual and a lower manual with a radiant treble, but also with particularly round, warm basses.