Jean-Marie Leclair
Jean-Marie Leclair wrote violin sonatas, suites and concertos that helped found the French violin school, drawing Italian brilliance into French dance forms. His Première Recréation de musique is a suite of graceful, elegant movements.
A French Baroque violinist as well as a composer, he absorbed styles from across Europe into music of clarity and rhythmic life. The Première Recréation de musique, op. 6, runs as a twelve-movement suite on dance measures: ouverture, forlane, menuets, gavotte, passepieds, sarabande and a closing chaconne. Sonatas for flute and continuo and the opera Scylla et Glaucus also survive. In the trio-sonata tradition his writing answers Corelli and Purcell with French elegance and dance-born poise.
Compositions by Jean-Marie Leclair appear on
Masters of Baroque
Trio Polyphonica was active between 1980 and 1990, with a repertoire spanning more than three centuries. This programme presents Baroque chamber works by Frescobaldi, Hellendaal, Couperin, Leclair, Rameau and Corelli.