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Le Concert des Nations

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Le Concert des Nations is an orchestra that plays the orchestral and symphonic repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantic period, roughly from 1600 to 1900, on historical instruments. The Catalan conductor and viola da gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall founded it in 1989. It is the youngest of his groups and the first orchestra of its kind to consist largely of musicians from Latin countries, including Spain, South America, Italy, Portugal and France. It is also the orchestra of La Capella Reial de Catalunya.

Music and breakthrough

The name refers to the work of François Couperin, in which different national tastes come together, and bears the traces of the Enlightenment. In 1992 the orchestra made its opera debut with Una Cosa Rara by Vicente Martín y Soler, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Auditorio Nacional. The records include Bach's Les Quatre Ouvertures, the Brandenburg Concertos, Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Les sept dernières paroles de notre Rédempteur sur la Croix.

Influence

By playing on instruments of the period, with a colourful, light and lively sound, the orchestra lets us hear how Baroque and Classical music may originally have sounded. It also brings back rarely played works and has thus contributed to the rise of historically informed performance.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Handel's Water Music and notice the sound of the historical instruments, which is lighter and sharper than that of a modern symphony orchestra.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists