 • ATMA Classique presents Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations in an arrangement for strings and continuo by Bernard Labadie, performed by Les Violons du Roy under Labadie's baton. This recording was originally released on the Dorian label in 2000. • According to Bernard Labadie, “This arrangement should be listened to for what it is: something independent and different, and not with constant reference to the keyboard version. I sincerely believe that a fundamental characteristic of all great masterworks is their ability to transmit their message in a variety of new ways that, although they will never replace or surpass the original, allow the range of forms and materials used in the creation of the works to be appreciated in a new light. I also believe in the adaptability and flexibility of music as a living material, one that transforms itself as it transforms us, one that makes us all, whether musicians, performers, or listeners, deeper and richer beings.” • Les Violons du Roy, which has a core membership of fifteen players, was brought together in 1984 by founding conductor Bernard Labadie and specializes in the vast repertoire of music for chamber orchestra, performed in the stylistic manner most appropriate to each era. Although the ensemble plays on modern instruments, its approach to the works of the Baroque and Classical periods has been strongly influenced by current research into performance practice in the 17th and 18th centuries; in this repertoire Les Violons du Roy uses copies of period bows. The orchestra also regularly delves into the repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries and has recorded works by Piazzolla, Bartók, and Britten. • Bernard Labadie's talents as a guest conductor are much sought after, and he regularly appears with major North American orchestras including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Houston and Toronto Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In Europe, he has taken the podium with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio-France, and the orchestra of Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. He is regularly invited to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia.
ATMA Classique is distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading PO Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone +61 (0)3 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile +61 (0)3 9444 6879 |
