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The Garden Party

The Marais Project’s latest offering, The Garden Party, has a festive anniversary flavour and includes several world premieres, not the least of which is the Eriksson-penned title track.

Early music ensemble, The Marais Project, has never followed a predictable path. Their recorded output over the past 20 years has been impressive and varied: six CDs covering a gamut of repertoire from the French and Swedish baroque to folk song and jazz. In addition, Director Jenny Eriksson has commissioned and premiered some 25 new Australian compositions creating a whole new repertoire for her instrument, the viola da gamba.

Eriksson's opening track, The Garden Party, is a cheeky take on Marin Marais Feste Champêtre, one of his most celebrated works. There is a superb Australian-first arrangement of a Marais suite for viola da gamba and piano accordion by Emily-Rose Šárkova. As well as playing the piano accordion Šárkova arranged the two spirited South American songs which close the recording.

Woven between the new repertoire, which makes up more than 50% of the track list, Eriksson and highly-regarded producer Llew Kiek have included selected music from several previous CDs, each of which was released on the Move label. The earlier material spans from the French baroque to Swedish folk song and serves to illustrate the broad range of musical styles and cultures the group embraces . Brilliantly mixed by long-term sound engineer, Chris Doherty, the CD is mastering by Michael Lynch.

“The Garden Party summarises our first twenty years and provides a launching pad for the years to come”, Eriksson commented. “I hope listeners will love the recording: we had a ball making it!”

Artist

The Marais Project

If you love interesting, out of the way music and relaxed, concert settings you will love The Marais Project! Jennifer Eriksson originally founded the group in 2000 to perform the complete works of Marin Marais an 18th century genius of my instrument, the viola da gamba. Over the years our repertoire has greatly expanded and now includes a huge range of wonderful vocal and instrumental music for the viola da gamba from the 1300s to the present day. They also commission and arrange new music for the ensemble.


Press quotes

“The Garden Party is a winning collection of 9 pieces with 19 tracks amounting to just under an hour of music. The mood is sometimes gentle, sometimes brimming with the jollity of the masque and sometimes full of medieval melancholy, with touches of jazz, swing and Latino idioms. It includes two world premiere recordings, The Garden Party (Eriksson) and the Suite in E minor, Pièces de viole, 4è livre by Marin Marais, arranged by Šárkova. Perhaps their best recording yet. Ravishing!”

— Shamistha de Soysa, SoundsLikeSydney

“Marais and many composers would love such fresh collaborations and inclusions of instruments such as the viola da gamba with such altered voice in new ensemble opportunities.”

— Paul Nolan, Sydney Arts Guide

Audio previews

Track Listing

  1. The Garden Party Jennifer Eriksson

    2. Suite in E minor, Pièces de viole, 4 livre, Paris 1717 Marin Marais

  2. Rondeau Paÿsan
  3. Sarabande
  4. La Matelotte
  5. La Biscayenne
  6. O salutaris hostia Pierre Bouteiller

    7. Suite No. 2 in G minor, Pièces en Trio, Paris 1692 Marin Marais

  7. Prelude
  8. Rondeau
  9. Plainte
  10. Petite Passacaille
  11. J'avois crû (Anonymous)

    12. Suite in G Minor, Pièces de violes, 5 livre, Paris 1725 Marin Marais

  12. Rondeau louré
  13. Allemande La Marianne
  14. Sarabande
  15. Menuet
  16. La Georgienne dite la Maupertuy
  17. Om sommaren sköna In beautiful summer (Traditional)
  18. La Anunciación Ariel Ramirez
  19. De Fiesta en Fiesta Carlos Carabajal

Performers

Composers

Jennifer Eriksson

Jenny Eriksson completed her initial musical studies at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music studying music education and cello with Barbara Woolley. She subsequently studied the viola da gamba with Jaap ter Linden at the Rotterdam Conservatorium for three years where she completed post-graduate studies in baroque music.

Marin Marais

Marin Marais (1656-1728) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was moderately successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.


Where to buy

The Garden Party is available for download from the iTunes Music Store.
It's available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music.

The Garden Party is available as as CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer secure online ordering.

Move CDs can be ordered through music retailers across Australia including Readings.

Product details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Release date
May 2019
Copyright
© 2019 The Marais Project
Phonogram
℗ 2019 Move Records
Categories
Classical, Early music
Catalogue number
MCD 592
Alternate catalogue number
MCD592
Barcode
EAN 9314574059229