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La Conversation Robert de Visiee & Theophile de Viau Vincent Dumestre & Eugene Green Alpha Music CD #: ALPHA 003 La Conversation is a remarkable collaboration between the spoken word and instrumentation, compiled as a tribute to the 17th-century French poet Theophile de Viau. A controversial figure in the court of Louis XIII, de Viau’s works garnered the acclaim of the court, the attention of many young authors and artists, and the ire of the Catholic Church. A Huguenot Protestant who converted to Catholicism, de Viau soon found himself at the center of a battle against trumped-up charges regarding his works, his lifestyle, and his influence at court, all of which destroyed his life, ruined his health, and ultimately lead to his death at the young age of 35. In these recordings of his most famous and potent writings, his eloquence lives again, accompanied by musical pieces composed by a roughly contemporary musician, Robert de Visee, that evoke the feeling of the court, and more importantly, of the poems themselves. From the first track—the sonnet “Sacrez murs du soleil”—the rich resonant sound and meaning of each poem comes through from passion to agony. While the bombast in the poems' declamatory style may sound strange to modern ears, it is a way to convey the poem's meaning through theatricality, in a time when the style of declamation had as much meaning as the words themselves. Equally well-performed are the instrumentals between each recitation, each of which are played much as they would have been centuries ago. The superb sound-quality of La Conversation reflects the care with which this project was realized, lending to this CD’s success as a musical as well as historical document. – Richard Mackenzie

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