French music of the Grand Siècle has its roots in the polyphonic tradition of the Renaissance. During the reign of Louis XIV, the longest in the history of France (72 years), French music imposed itself as an important alternative to the Italian style, which seemed to conquer the rest of Europe quite quickly. Courtly music imposed its models in the capital, and provincial cities tried to keep pace with the means at their disposal. With the court’s institutions (La Chapelle, L’Écurie, La Chambre du Roi, the XXIV Violins or the Académie royale), France created models that would prolong Louis XIV’s Century during the Age of Enlightenment. The suite, the ouverture, the tragédie en musique, the grand motet and solo motets stand out as powerful identities of French music.

6 Concertos for Recorder adds to a series of nine previous CDs for the label Musiques à la Chabotterie, which have been acclaimed by the media including Classica Choc, Diapason Découverte, Le Monde de la Musique Choc, Goldberg 5 Étoiles, and more. A tribute to Hugo Reyne s teachers and to those whose playing have inspired him, this album features Vivaldi concertos that have carried Reyne through his life.

Orchestre baroque français, dirigé par le flûtiste, hautboïste et chef d’orchestre Hugo Reyne, La Simphonie du Marais défend depuis plus de 30 ans le répertoire musical des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, en tissant des liens uniques et particuliers entre le public, l’histoire, la musique et les autres arts.

La Simphonie du Marais is offering you a masterpiece of the Baroque repertoire, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Hugo Reyne, now as the conductor, now as the recorder player, reveals the extent of Leipzig’s future cantor’s talent in a version «à la française» that allows ample room for the wind instruments.

'Ulysse' by Jean-Fery Rebel (1666-1747), with its prologue and five acts, was given at the Paris Opera on January 23 1703. The libretto by Henry Guichard, after Homer, recounts the return of Ulysses to Ithaca, where Circe, still in love with him, attempts to regain him by magic. The opera ends in the triumph of love over evil. Rebel followed the formal framework of the lyric tragedies of his master Lully, including some scenes to marvel at. But his orchestral writing also announces Rameau, especially in the depiction of battles, earthquakes or storms.

Ce disque renferme de la musique de circonstance rythmant la vie de la cour de Versailles de Louis XIV à Louis XVI. Les deux compositeurs mis en valeur sont peu connus mais de leur temps étaient les familiers des souverains et les compositeurs des musiques servant à accompagner les chasses, festins, mariages, fêtes, divertissement qui marquaient les temps forts de la vie de Cour.

La Simphonie du Marais under their director Hugo Reyne are terrific. They bring this music alive with such stylish performances that bring fine textures, variety, colour and often some exotic moments, Hugo Reyne knowing just how to lift these suites to reveal every fine moment … These performances remain the benchmark.

La Naissance d'Osiris (Osiris birth) was performed in 1754 at the birth of Louis XVI in Fontainebleau. Rameau composed the one-act ballet based on a libretto by Louis de Cahusac, who has already provided the libretto for numerous other works by Rameau (Zoroastre, Anacréon, Les Fêtes de l'hymen et de l'Amour …). The piece depicts the birth of the goddess Osiris and symbolizes the birth of the grandson of Louis XV.

The first recording of Rameau's sublime masterwork on CD for more than 20 years: Hugo Reyne and La Simphonie du Marais present this full and original version based on souces in the library of the Paris Opera. Hugo Reyne, Nicolas Sceaux and La Simphonie du Marais have made their own edition of this seminal work, recorded in concert and rehearsal in the Vienna Konzerthaus at the Rexonzanzen Festival in January 2013.

A portrait of d'Artagnan in the form of a tribute to Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by authentic pieces of music written by Lully and Philidor for the real Musketeers. Trumpets and kettledrums, oboes and side-drums play the favourite marches and trios of the royal regiments in alternation with passages from the novelist's prose. A fascinating meeting between history and fiction.

Louis XIII était passionné de musique ; A la fois mélomane et compositeur, il a donné une grande place à cet art durant tout son règne. Richelieu, son fidèle premier ministre, était quant à lui passionné de théâtre et fit construire dans son Palais Cardinal (qui deviendra plus tard le Palais Royal), vers 1635 la première salle à l'italienne en France. Ce théâtre fut inauguré avec notamment la représentation du Ballet de la Prospérité des armes de France que nous avons enregistré dans ce coffret. Remontez le temps en découvrant un répertoire peu fréquenté, trop ancien pour les ensembles baroques et trop tardif pour les ensembles renaissances : Boesset, Bouzignac, Chancy, Formé, Gantez…

Orchestre baroque français, dirigé par le flûtiste, hautboïste et chef d’orchestre Hugo Reyne, La Simphonie du Marais défend depuis plus de 30 ans le répertoire musical des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, en tissant des liens uniques et particuliers entre le public, l’histoire, la musique et les autres arts.

Baroque flautist Hugo Reyne’s period band La Simphonie du Marais have been up and running since 1987, based in the charmingly-named La Chabotterie in Vendée, western France. They've built up a sizeable discography but remain little-known in the UK. Hopefully these vibrant, entertaining performances of baroque blockbusters will change that. This Handel disc had me beaming like a toddler gorging on chocolate. Reyne's irreverent-but-respectful approach is signalled by the first track, a collage of nautical sound effects capped by a a trumpet fanfare and a few spoken words. Dive into the “Overture” to Handel's Water Music and relish the mixture of spikiness and warmth, the dotted rhythms suitably incisive. Faster movements have exhilarating bounce and joie de vivre. Horns and trumpets are just raucous enough, and there's some lovely flute and oboe work from Reyne and Christian Moreaux.

This is a beautiful, thoughtfully compiled disc. It chronologically charts the life of Jean de La Fontaine, that 17th-century master of the fable, through his own words and through music that sets his text, or that he simply admired. There’s one particular coup: the inclusion of identifiable extracts from the opera by Charpentier that sets a text by La Fontaine. Alas, the whole work did not survive, probably for reasons to do with Lully’s royally granted privilege, but the booklet notes make an excellent case for the association with the opera of the few pieces recorded here.