A welcome addition to the Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series, violinist Charlotte Spruit’s debut album Le Mercure Galant recreates the intimate atmosphere of a seventeenth-century Parisian salon, where the city’s elite gathered to enjoy the latest musical treasures.
Some of that musical elite is represented here: the prodigious Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, who was one of Louis XIV’s favourite composers, the King’s cherished lute player Robert de Visée, the illustrious violinist and composer Johann Paul von Westhoff, plus Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Michel Lambert. These distinguished composers all featured one way or another in Le Mercure galant, a prominent magazine reporting the vibrant cultural life of the French court. Charlotte is joined by Sergio Bucheli (lute) and Jonathan Manson (viola da gamba).
Extra material for download