Anonyme (1280)
Hoquetus "In seculum"
Amor potest conqueri

Anonyme (1300)
In seculum d'Amiens longum

Anonyme (13ème siècle)
El mois de Mai

Anonyme (14ème siècle)
La Manfredina

Jehan Vaillant (1360-1390)
Par maintes foys

Solage (14ème siècle)
Pluseurs gens voy
Hélas je voy

Matteo da Perugia (?1380-?1418)
Ne me chant
Andrey Soulet

Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)
S'il estoit
Comment qu'a moy

Anonyme (1400)
Or Sus vous Dormais Trop

Grimace (14ème siècle)
Alarme, alarme

Estienne du Tertre (16ème siècle)
Pavane
Galliarde
Branle I
Branle II

Eustache du Caurroy (1549-1609)
Fantaisies n° 29-33 sur "Une jeune fillette"

Anthony Holborne (?1547-1602)
Pavane "The Funerals"

Thomas Morley (1557-1602)
Fantaisie "Il Grillo"

Thomas Tomkins (?1572-1656)
Pavane et Allemande a 4 en fa majeur

John Cooper (1570-1626)
Fantaisie

Elway Bevin (?1554-1638)
Browning a 3

Johann Sommer (1542-1574)
Pavane
Galliarde "Auserlesene Paduanen"

Isaac Posch (-?1622)
Musicalische Tafelfreudt

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
Ludi musici, Livre I

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612)
Canzone a 8 "Fa sol la re"
Canzone a 4

Gioseffo Guami (1542-1611)
Canzone a 8

Tiburtio Massaino (?1550-?1609)
Canzone a 8

Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Suite "Alcyone"
Suite n° 1, extrait de "Pièces de Viol, Livre 2"

François Couperin (1668-1733)
Deuxième Concerto Royal en ré majeur

Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (?1674-1763)
Premier livre de pièces pour flûte traversière

Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741)
Ouverture en ré mineur, K Deest
Sonate pour 2 violes de gambe et basse continue

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Sonate n° 10 en mi majeur, C 87
Balletti Lamentabili, C 59
Sonate n° 10 en sol mineur "La Crucifixion"
Mensa Sonora, Partie n° 1 en ré majeur, C69
Harmonia artificioso-ariosa

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680)
Sonate pour violon et continuo n° 4 en ré majeur

Giovanni Legrenzi (?1626-1690)
Sonate pour 4 violes de gambe
Sonate n° 13 "La Buscha", op. 8

Georg Muffat (1653-1704)
Sonate pour cordes n° 5 en sol majeur, extrait de "Armonico Tributo"

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Prophetess or The History of Dioclesian, Z 627
Fantaisies pour violes de gambe & In nomines, Z 732-747

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Pièces de Clavecin en Concert

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Extraits des "Quatuors Parisiens 1730"
Extrait de "Musique de Table, Production III"

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto Brandebourgeois n° 6 en si bémol majeur, BWV 1051
Suite pour violoncelle n° 1 en sol majeur, BWV 1007
Suite pour violoncelle n° 2 en ré mineur, BWV 1008
Suite pour violoncelle n° 3 en do majeur, BWV 1009
Suite pour violoncelle n° 4 en mi bémol majeur, BWV 1010
Suite pour violoncelle n° 5 en do mineur, BWV 1011
Suite pour violoncelle n° 6 en ré majeur, BWV 1012

Vienne, années 60, Vanguard capture les débuts de l’aventure du Concentus Musicus, Nikolaus Harnoncourt veille encore sur l’ensemble de son violoncelle (l’autre label disposant alors ses micros, MHS lui fera enregistrer les Suites de Bach, leçon de style malgré un archet tenace, Alto les a placées en coda de cette boîte utile), et l’anime d’abord pour un plein album de musique médiévale française emmené par Alfred Deller, merveille indémodable bien que justement le style en soit passé. La France, l’Angleterre, l’Italie, l’Allemagne, ce sont les goûts affrontés que la belle bande illustre dans des albums instrumentaux savoureux, avec deux prodigieuses échappées belles, dans le Versailles de Louis XIV (la grande Suite d’Alcyone), puis plus tard, avec les amis Leonhardt et Fryden pour de vivaces Pièces de clavecin en concert de Rameau. Maître mot des disques qui vont se succéder au long de cette décennie pionnière, la géométrie variable, qui faisait du Concentus une formation absolument mobile, des violes des Fantaisies de Purcell à l’ensemble élargi des Taffelmusik. Ce voyage a rebours du temps est plus d’une fois troublant, est-ce bien de ce jeux si profond que découlent nos sémillants baroqueux d’aujourd’hui ? Harnoncourt inventait déjà son univers ambigu, historiquement informé pour l’instrumentarium et les textes, mais où s’infusait toute une tradition viennoise non exempte des derniers feux du romantisme, c’est aussi cela la leçon de cette boite qui n’est pas seulement la compilation des premiers pas d’un ensemble mythique, mais d’emblée son manifeste. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, (Count Nikolaus de la Fontaine und d’Harnoncourt-Unverzagt), cellist and conductor, 1929-2016, was one of the most innovative and influential conductors of the second half of the 20th century, bringing the scholarship and sensibility of historical performance to the mainstream repertoire with sometimes controversial, but always illuminating results. With the Concentus Musicus of Vienna (Wien), an ensemble he formed in the early 1950s, he recorded, in collaboration with his friend Gustav Leonhardt, the complete sacred cantatas of JS Bach and continued with the group in later years. But he also began to operate with modern instrumental ensembles, notably the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and, later, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, in classical and Romantic repertoire. Performances of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Dvorák, among others, were distinguished by their bracingly astringent qualities. While some found readings mannered and idiosyncratic, others relished their freshness and vigour. He made more than 500 recordings. Born in Berlin into a noble family and brought up in Graz, Austria, Harnoncourt was descended from various Holy Roman emperors and other European royalty. His father, Eberhard, was an engineer and civil servant; his mother, Ladislaja Gräfin von Meran, Freiin von Brandhoven, was the granddaughter of the Habsburg Archduke John. Harnoncourt was a cello pupil of Paul Grümmer and of Emanuel Brabec at the Vienna Music Academy. He also played the viola da gamba. In 1952 he joined the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as a cellist, and although he remained there until 1969, he reacted strongly against both the military precision of conductors such as George Szell and the undifferentiated approach to early music then prevalent. Handel was played much like Brahms, he later said, and the result was “an unsorted blend of geniality, 19th-century tradition and ignorance”. Within a year of joining the orchestra he formed a group of like-minded players, among them the violinist Alice Hoffelner, who led the ensemble and whom he married in 1953, to explore the use of original instruments and historically informed techniques in baroque music. The Concentus Musicus of Vienna gave no concerts for the first five years, but following a series of 12 public concerts in Vienna, record companies such as Telefunken, Vanguard and Deutsche Grammophon began to take notice. The first recording, in 1962, was of Purcell’s Fantasias for viols (ATMCD1522), after which came well-received recordings of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites (Teldec, directed by Harnoncourt from the principal cello desk) and then the major choral works of Bach. The Bach cantata project (Teldec) with Leonhardt (1971–90) was a landmark in recordings, notable for its pioneering historical research – Harnoncourt was publishing books and articles then and went on to hold academic chairs at Salzburg University and at the Mozarteum, where he was professor of performance practice. It was also exceptional in replacing female voices with those of unbroken trebles, even in the solo movements. The other notable achievement with the Concentus Musicus was the recording of Monteverdi’s three surviving operas (Warner): Orfeo, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and L’Incoronazione di Poppea. To these recordings, as to the highly acclaimed stage performances in Zurich (1975-9), he brought an austere but stylish and well-paced approach. Those qualities also characterised his readings of classical and romantic repertoire which he began undertaking with leading modern-instrument orchestras in the ensuing decades. A set of Beethoven symphonies with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on modern instruments sold spectacularly well and led to further offers, including a lifetime contract with Teldec, and New Year’s Day concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic. There were ventures into the 20th century too, with Bartók and Berg featuring in his repertoire. In an interview in 2012 for Radio 3’s Music Matters, Harnoncourt revealed not only that had he had more time left to him he would have relished the challenge of Wagner, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, (which he would have approached in the spirit of Offenbach-style operetta.) The latter was territory he inhabited very successfully, the minimal vibrato, measured tempi and taut rhythms of a Belle Hélène (Zurich, 1997) paying generous dividends in capturing the exhilaration of the score. In 2009 he surprised many with a recording made in Graz in his 80th year of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Harnoncourt’s long career coincided with radical developments in the performance of music of all eras. During this period, early music became more established and the distinction between historical and mainstream gradually faded. Harnoncourt was at the centre of this transformation. His career also coincided with the demise of the conductor as feared tyrant. To the end of his life he remained fundamentally opposed to the cult of the autocratic conductor – the only man he acknowledged as “maestro” was his hairdresser, he joked. His rehearsal process was collegiate, with musicians as partners. Appearances in London in later years included a serene and moving performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in 2012. On that evening Harnoncourt was presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society’s gold medal, a fitting tribute to a lifetime devoted to stretching artistic boundaries. He retired officially from the stage on 5 December 2015, because of declining health. His new Beethoven Symphonies No 4 and 5, recorded live in Vienna with the Concentus Musicus, more than 60 years since its formation, were released to great acclaim.