London Baroque have provided us with a tantalising selection of little-known early French chamber music. Louis Couperin died in 1661 so his may be assumed to be the earliest. Lully’s trios could date from as early as the 1660s. Geoffroy died in 1694 and little is otherwise known of him. The works of only three composers – Marais, Le Roux and Rebel – are datable by publication (1692, 1702 and 1712); they would, however, have been composed some years earlier and, indeed, there exists a manuscript copy of the Rebel Tombeau dated 1695 though it could, theoretically, date from 1687. The only known source for the Clérambault sonatas also dates them from the 1690s, very likely copied when they were newly composed and fashionably Italianate.

London Baroque display their accustomed polish and élan, the violin-playing wonderfully declamatory (especially in the Rebel), the continuo-playing highly cultivated. Because violins weren’t at first the treble instrument of choice in France, they can sound a trifle bright (a brace of recorders or treble viols, for example, might better suit Lully’s bedtime music, not to mention the pieces of Louis Couperin and Geoffroy, which specify viols). Marais, François Couperin and Le Roux had their eyes on sales and were careful not to preclude any combination of instruments in their published editions. Rebel was, apparently, among the first French composers to combine violins with bass viol.

It is a particular treat to sample Geoffroy, Louis Couperin and Clérambault. The first two use the ‘dialogue’ format to vary the timbre of the ensemble. In the Geoffroy, the harpsichord dominates, introducing variations which are then taken up by the violins. As in Le Roux later, the instruments take over at key moments, doubling elsewhere what is essentially keyboard music. The Marais, François Couperin, Clérambault and Rebel pieces are fully integrated chamber works. Thanks all round.