Press

ENERGETIC AND DYNAMIC

‘Their musical interpretation is sharp, taking the sonatas to heart, which prevents them from falling into flattering and sweet sentimentality. Instead, they are illuminated by the musicians’ intelligence.

Myriam Rignol played a Tielke viola (1696) expressively, technically perfectly and historically informed. Yoko Kawakubo brilliantly played the 1997 violin from Pierre Jaquier’s workshop. The 1978 harpsichord comes from the workshop of Tilman Muthesius and the positive organ (1976) from the luthier Bernhard Junghänel. Julien Wolfs played them alternately, accompanying and supporting the works with a sparkling, energetic and dynamic continuo.’

DIAPASON D’OR

‘Les Timbres, winners of the Bruges Competition in 2009, generally receive nothing but praise. The fluidity of their musical interpretation and their attention to detail and balance result in a Rameau that is both elegant and distinctive. The precision of the strings is very accomplished in terms of accuracy, the neighbouring registers are perfectly blended (when the high notes of the viola da gamba flirt with the violin), allowing the harpsichord, the leader in Rameau’s writing, to speak with all the freedom it desires.

The musicians have grasped the full poetic dimension of this singular work. In La Vezinet, they defuse the virtuosity in favour of tender amusement; they delve into the alternately playful and anxious modulations of La Laborde, softening the noble postures of La Boucon. A sensitive work of art, illuminated by intelligence.

When it comes to entertaining, the trio reveals an unprecedented palette. Les Tambourins is one of the most brilliant and colourful recordings in the discography.

Les Timbres deliver a dazzling lesson in chamber music.’

DIAPASON D’OR

‘It is rare for ensembles to combine both collections in a single album; Les Timbres captivate listeners with their finesse and humility. This close-knit trio focuses on mutual listening rather than individual virtuosity, even though they have the means to do so. Without losing any of its depth or boldness, the music gains in interiority.’

INTOXICATING POETRY

‘The Range of Marin Marais. It must express both the clarity of perfectly polished rhetoric, that of the venerable old Marais, then at the height of his creativity (and at the twilight of his enviable career as “ordinary musician of the king’s chamber music for the viola”), and the subtlety of tone, between humour, grace and concertante fullness.

An interpretative approach that the three soloists of Les Timbres sublimate de facto, revealing the grandeur and poetry of this little-known masterpiece of French Baroque music, too rarely performed because its 900 bars (45 minutes) require three individual and complementary instrumental temperaments, with formidable temperament and lively, continuous listening.

Their flexibility, understanding, and finely tuned ability to share nuances through constant and natural listening are truly enchanting. This first part of the weekend with Les Timbres confirmed both the originality of a programme that demands a great deal from the artists, offering festival-goers an infinite experience, and the shared sensitivity of an instrumental trio of intoxicating poetry.

Les Timbres are a technically virtuoso ensemble, musically in tune with each other and poetically accurate. What more could you ask for?’

PURE ENCHANTMENT

‘Excerpts from Philippe Hersant’s choral cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland were performed, with the musician tasked with sticking to the instruments used in the main work on the programme for the same concert, which closed the Festival: Bach’s cantata Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal BWV 146.

The same instrumental and vocal resources were used for two worlds that were as perfectly harmonious as they were magnificently different.

Hersant’s work began with a sudden crescendo of voices and instruments, culminating in a climax that sent shivers down the audience’s spine, immediately followed by an elegiac intervention from the solo viola da gamba in the gallery – pure enchantment.’

MUSE BAROQUE NOTE: GOLD

‘For its first album, the young ensemble Les Timbres has no qualms about tackling one of the most formidable collections of chamber music in the repertoire. The young musicians consider this work to be both Rameau’s last book of harpsichord pieces and the first keyboard trios, foreshadowing Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

Les Timbres transform these genre pieces, which evoke a place, a character or a personality, with a beautifully fresh approach, into an intimate conversation, close to a confidence shared with the mastery of an already well-established maturity. They move through this gallery of familiar yet surprising portraits with great naturalness, like a pleasant and curious stroll, rendering Rameau’s music as elegant as it is distinctive. With the trio displaying total cohesion, we appreciate their freedom of expression, where the violin and viola sometimes merge while the harpsichord sets the tone with lightness.

This highly successful first attempt gives us a magnificent lesson in chamber music.’