La Petite Bande
La Petite Bande is a baroque orchestra, specializing in music of the Baroque in historical performance practice. The core of the ensemble consists of musicians from Belgium, which are supplemented by international artists. They are particularly known for the recordings of works by Arcangelo Corelli, Jean Philippe Rameau, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.
History
The founding of the ensemble took place in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken and was originally intended as a one-off project to Jean -Baptiste Lully's ballet comedy Le Bourgeois gentilhomme under the direction of Gustav Leonhardt for the German Harmonia Mundi record. La Petite Bande took its name from Lully's orchestra La Petite Bande the Violons du Roi, an orchestra with 21 string instruments at the court of Louis XIV. From the beginning, came only original instruments or exact replicas used. The core of the initial group is the Alarius ensemble, which went up in La Petite Bande, and the Leonhardt Consort along with Sigiswald Kuijken and his brothers Wieland and Barthold. After the recording session was followed by concerts in different European countries. La Petite Bande was to a stable ensemble based in Leuven under the artistic direction of Kuijken. After first French Baroque music was the main subject, the repertoire expanded rapidly from Italian and German composers, especially Corelli, Handel and Bach. In addition, music has been performed from the time of the classical and on recordings taken as symphonies and concertos and vocal works by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From the Mozart opera Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute were Le nozze di Figaro, performed. When recording of Haydn's The Creation in 1982 for the first time came contemporary instruments used. His debut in the United Kingdom held La Petite Bande in 1982 as part of the Proms with a concert of works by Bach, Handel and Rameau. The critic Barry Millington described the show in The Musical Times as follows:
"The group entertains an endearing attitude of indifference to the ceremony on the concert stage: Each player is casually dressed. But as for their game, nothing is left to chance. This belongs to the most disciplined of Baroque game that can be heard today. "
La Petite Bande has included in the first ten years a number of opera rarities such as Rameau Zoroastre, Zaïs and Pygmalion and André L'Europe galante Campras and André Le jugement de Midas Grétry 's. During the years 2006 to 2009, the ensemble was mainly concentrated on Bach, especially the Bach cantatas with the aim einzuspielen Cantatas for the complete liturgical year, but his St John Passion, St Matthew Passion and the B minor mass. The vocal works of Bach Kuijken followed the theory Joshua Rifkin and occupied the voices only with a solo vocal quartet. Were among the singers of these recordings, among others, Sophie Carthusian, Gerlinde sower, Barbara Schlick, Elisabeth Scholl and Siri Thornhill (soprano), René Jacobs and Petra Noskaiová (Alt ), Christoph Genz, Christoph Prégardien and Marcus Ullmann (tenor ) and Jan van der crabbing, Max van Egmond, Dominik Wörner and Harry van der Kamp ( bass).
The Brandenburg Concertos of Bach with Violoncello da Spalla were, natural trumpet, hunting horns and the " basse de violon ", Basso continuo played for the first time as an instrument.
On 2 February 2009 Sigiswald Kuijken received the award for Cultural Merit by the Flemish government. The following day the advisory committee of the Ministry of Culture, La Petite tape recommended to remove the 600,000 euros in annual grants. Kuijken students started to secure grants an Internet petition received 21,000 signatures. The then regional Minister of Culture Bert Anciaux not followed the advice of the Committee and granted subsidies by 2012 (reduced to 590,000 euros ). In May 2012, was carried out by the same small committee of another negative report for the period 2013 to 2016, as a result, all grants were canceled. As a result, the ensemble has a charitable foundation "Support La Petite Bande " launched to offset the deficits.
Against the backdrop of a renewed state grant assistance for the period 2013-2016, Kuijken want the director of the ensemble project basis, transmitted younger musicians. So does from April 2013 to realize a project of Handel French organist and harpsichordist Benjamin Alard the management of the baroque ensemble. In this context, the " Dag van de La Petite Bande " initiative can be seen, held annually since 2010 in December in Leuven, an event with three concerts and a round table discussion with international experts of early music.