GRANDES EAUX MUSICALES
DE VERSAILLES

Reference: AV9842

• Jordi Savall
• Le Concert des Nations

Each year the magical setting of the gardens of the Castle of Versailles (one of the most visited sites in France and, indeed, Europe) are the setting for a fairy-tale fountain display. Devised during the reign of Louis XIV, this impressive spectacle set to music reflected the power and the majesty of the King himself. This year, the musical programme has been entrusted to Jordi Savall, who has selected some of the finest treasures from the Alia Vox catalogue. This is a landmark album, a unique selection performed by the leading specialists in the repertoire, those same artists who popularised this music and contributed to the success that it enjoys today.

Royal! The spectacular fountains – the Grandes Eaux – of the gardens at Versailles richly deserve this adjective. The thousands of jets devised by the engineers Le Nôtre and Francine inject life into Louis XIV’s stone and plant domain, enhancing all its perspectives, bathing it in shimmering vitality and infusing it with a lifeblood of which every sparkling drop scintillates with music. Fountains, pools, waterfalls and cascading tiers of water provide perpetually shifting décors, or rather, animated characters that are constantly being renewed, set in motion by a gigantic machine concealed underground. Vast, cathedral-like reservoirs, kilometer after kilometer of centuries-old lead piping, embossed here and there with the royal fleur-de-lys.

The melodic sound of the water irresistibly conjures up the song of instruments and voices. Drawing on the source of 17th and 18th century French musical genius, each year the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles sets to music the spectacle of the Grandes Eaux, using the exceptional venue of the Château to showcase to a broad public the art of Versailles at its finest. This immersion in the artistic history of the French Court also aims to reflect the musical life of Versailles today. In fact, the pieces chosen are extracts from the most outstanding concerts offered during the Centre’s autumn season at the Château of Versailles.

+ information in the CD booklet

VINCENT BERTHIER DE LIONCOURT

Translated by Jacqueline Minett