Zach Top Marin Marais: Pièces de Viole. The Complete Collection

More than forty years separate Marin Marais’ Premier Livre de Pièces de Violes (1686) from the Cinquième (1725). Despite the novelty of the basso continuo, the First Book is still the work of a composer who had inherited a tradition that developed in France during the 17th century. The Fifth, published a few years before his death, is a moving and perfect testimony to a musical language that was also in its twilight years. The Second, Third and Fourth books reveal not only the evolution of musical forms but also the ineffable talent that ensured Marais’ position as the undisputed master of his art, one that was inextricably linked to the spirit of French music of the Grand Siècle. Marin Marais’ Pièces de Viole were recorded complete and first released in stages between 2014 and 2021; they are now issued as a boxed set to mark François Joubert-Caillet’s appointment this year as professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.