Bach & Bernier: Routes du café Ensemble Masques & Olivier Fortin

• Nâyi Osman Dede (/1652 - 1729):
• 1 Taksim Ney 02:40
• 2 Rast Dilârâ Peşrev 01:18
• Nicolas Bernier (1664 - 1734): Le Caffé:
• 3 Le Caffé: I. Prélude 01:31
• 4 Le Caffé: II. Récitatif 00:42
• 5 Le Caffé: III. Air 04:56
• 6 Le Caffé: IV. Récitatif 00:55
• 7 Le Caffé: V. Air gay 04:23
• 8 Le Caffé: VI. Récitatif 00:30
• 9 Le Caffé: VII. Air gay 05:08
• Nâyi Osman Dede:
• 10 Taksim Oud 01:09
• 11 Rast Dilârâ Saz Semâî 04:12
• 12 Taksim Ney II 00:56
• Marin Marais (1656 - 1728):
• 13 Troisième livre de viole: Saillie du café 02:27
• Kathleen Kajioka (b. 1973):
• 14 Taksim Kaman 02:39
• 15 Wahda Sarabande 03:52
• Matthew Locke (1621 - 1677):
• 16 Consort of Fower Parts: Fantasia in D Minor 04:49
• Tanburi Cemil Bey (1873 - 1916):
• 17 Taksim & Mahur Peşrev 03:45
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211:
• 18 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: I. Recitative 00:39
• 19 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: II. Aria 02:57
• 20 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: III. Recitative 00:38
• 21 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: IV. Aria 04:22
• 22 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: V. Recitative 01:09
• 23 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: VI. Aria 03:05
• 24 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: VII. Recitative 00:48
• 25 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: VIII. Aria 06:47
• 26 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: IX. Recitative 00:48
• 27 Coffee Cantata "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 211: X. Choral 04:31
• Total Runtime 01:11:36

Info for Bach & Bernier: Routes du café

The history of coffee is fascinating! From the opening of the first establishments in Constantinople in the middle of the sixteenth century to the appearance and diffusion of the drink in Europe in the following century, coffee and coffee houses were highly fashionable. Two composers devoted a cantata to the topic. Gottfried Zimmermann opened his famous coffee house in Leipzig in 1715 and organised concerts there. Around 1735, Bach composed his famous cantata Schweigt still, plaudert nicht , which was probably performed there. It depicts the humorous dispute between a father and his daughter over her consumption of coffee. In Paris, Nicolas Bernier’s cantata Le Caffé (1664-1734) praised the beverage and its many virtues. The ‘Coffee Road’ Olivier Fortin has mapped out here makes a detour to London around 1660, where the composer Matthew Locke frequented the Turk’s Head Coffee House and promoted a string fantasia.

Fortin has chosen to organise this album like a fasil, a ‘suite of pieces’ in traditional Ottoman music, with taqsims (improvisations) interspersed among the compositions and played on such instruments as the ney flute, the Arab violin and the yayli tanbur.

Hana Blazikova, soprano
Reinoud van Mechelen, tenor
Lisandro Abadie, bass
Adrien Espinouze, flute (Ney)
Evgenios Voulgaris, oud (Yayli Tanbur)
Pierre Rigopoulos, percussion
Ensemble Masques
Olivier Fortin, harpsichord, organ, direction

Ensemble Masques
Renowned as much for their expressiveness and vitality as for their integrity and precision, Masques is an ensemble which fully embodies the dynamic spirit of the Baroque. The name of the group is inspired by the masques of Elizabethan England — dramatic entertainments that incorporated music, dance and poetry. The six members of Masques each have impressive individual careers, with a collective résumé that encompasses a prestigious roster of international early music ensembles. When they come together, their combined breadth of experience is felt in an uncommon interpretive depth, bound together by an equally uncommon chemistry which continues to mesmerize audiences and critics alike. “One is struck by the perfect balance between the musicians, by the osmosis in the slightest nuances of the rubato, in the quantity of hair applied to the string…” – Classica

A chamber group without conductor, Masques benefits from the creative involvement of each member. Their shared curiosity has lead them, and their audiences, along an ever-evolving path of discovery. From their deep immersion into the fascinating world of 17th century German music, to the unveiling of Telemann’s universalism, humour and humanism, to their interest in the initiatory journey of “The Grand Tour,” Masques’ artistic choices are underpinned by the same appetite for trade, blending, borrowing and mixing that was the very breath of the Baroque era itself. It is a spirit reflected in the diverse nationalities of Masques’ musicians, who hail from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland and France — and through their playing, made new.

Masques’s concert schedule has taken them to Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Poland and Austria; to The Netherlands at Amsterdam’s Musiekgebouw and Utrecht’s renowned Early Music Festival; to Belgium at Brussels’ Bozar, Antwerp’s AMUZ and Gent’s Bijloke. They have also appeared in most major centres in Canada and the United States, including New York, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Los Angeles. Upcoming projects include concerts as part of the Folles Journées en région, in Nantes & Tokyo, the Cité de la Voix in Vézelay, the Festival de Saintes, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Festival de Wallonie and a tour of the United Kingdom & Finland.

An exclusive artist for the ALPHA label, their discs dedicated to17th century Austrian composers Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and the almost unknown Romanus Weichlein have enjoyed unanimous critical praise, between them receiving the Diapason d’Or, the “ffff” Telerama, the two “Chocs” de Classica and Gramophone Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice” award. Most recently, they have celebrated the music of Georg Philipp Telemann with an acclaimed recording of his Theatrical Overture-Suites, in honour of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1767. Other critically acclaimed albums have been recorded on the ATMA, Dorian and Analekta labels. Two forthcoming recording projects for ALPHA are slated for release in 2019.

Olivier Fortin
graduated with distinction from the Québec Conservatory in 1995. He continued his training with Dom André Laberge, obtained a Master Degree from University of Montreal under the direction of Réjean Poirier, and received several scholarships for studies in Paris with Pierre Hantai and in Amsterdam with Bob van Asperen. In 1997 he was awarded top prizes at the Montreal Bach Competition and the Bruges Festival. Olivier Fortin is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, touring and recording throughout Europe, China and South Korea, the United States and Canada with Masques, Capriccio Stravagante and Tafelmusik. He also performs with Skip Sempé and Pierre Hantaï in programs of music for two and three harpsichords. Olivier Fortin is the founder and director of the Ensemble Masques. From 2004-08 he taught harpsichord and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec, and he currently teaches at the Tafelmusik Summer Institute in Toronto.

This album contains no booklet.