Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Sonates Pour Violon, Les Dominos (Ricercar)

Music good enough for Louis XIV is surely more than good enough for me, three hundred years later in a noticeably less graceful, more brutally desensitised time.

Stately, lachrymose, spritely or in singing style, these sonatas for violin, bass viol, keyboard and theorbo continuo provide courtly entertainment enough for those with refined taste, the subtleties no doubt being lost on me, and it was meandering pleasantly enough along until the Aria of Sonata 5, presumably known to Louis as Track 26 on this CD, drew one in and insinuated itself with its poignant devices. Tender and unassuming, a conversation between the two string instruments, it went beyond its formal courtesies and obligations to express some awful sadness that betrays the possibilities of love.
One piece can open up a collection, whether in music or poetry, and having appreciated one part, the others are lifted by it, too. The Aria at the end of Sonata 6, which sounds Scottish to me, ends the collection on a rural, folktune theme, is another simple but arresting movement that sends one back to the rest of the disc to listen again with attention now attuned to the small but exquisitely well-made compositions.

Pure, modest, melodic and understated, this is music that will repay replaying and gain from becoming more familiar. Unfortunately, it has now dropped to number 27,323 on the Amazon chart. That's too bad.