Ensemble Mirable - Guillemain: Conversations Galantes (2004)

Conversations Galantes is the second self-released outing by the young San Francisco Bay-area group Ensemble Mirable co-led by gambist Joanna Blendulf and harpsichordist JungHae Kim. The repertoire here is four of the six sonatas featured in French composer Louis-Gabriel Guillemain's 1743 publication Six Sonates en Quatours, ou Conversations Galantes et amusantes, Op. 12, a work closely related to Georg Philipp Telemann's 1738 Quadri in terms of style and effect. In this case, the primary focus of this collection is on Ensemble Mirable rather than the repertoire, rare and desirable as it is. Heretofore recordings of Guillemain's work has largely concentrated on his solo violin pieces in his Amusement, Op. 18, and only one of these Op. 12 works, the Sonata No. 3 in D minor, has appeared on disc before.
Like Telemann's Quadri (also known as the "Paris Quartets"), Guillemain's set of six are intended for the "Kenner" (i.e., expert players) rather than the "Liebhaber" (amateurs), but is designed to be flexible enough to appeal to both kinds of talents. Ensemble Mirable certainly qualifies as "Kenner," and takes a disciplined, yet easygoing and relaxed approach to the music that is very fluid and natural. In this instance, Ensemble Mirable is not exclusively a "Quartet" as the title page of Guillemain's might seem to require, as it consists of five members: Blendulf, Kim, wooden flutist Greer Ellison, violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, and cellist William Skeen. Nonetheless, this configuration is historically acceptable; the number of players in a group and the number of parts in a chamber score was not, in Guillemain's time, intended to automatically result in a one-to-one relationship, and here the cello mostly sticks to the continuo part, along with the harpsichord. The playing is of excellent caliber and is wonderfully awake and aware; the flute perks up the whole ensemble when she has a rising figure to play, just to describe one aspect of how well integrated this performance is, even as the tempo observed is easy and freely flowing. Of the sonatas, it is hard to pick a favorite, but two stand out; the Sonata No. 3 in D minor is the trickiest and most harmonically adventurous of the four, whereas the sweetness and gaiety of Sonata No. 5 in F major pricks up one's ears; its very sense of joyfulness has something about it that catches one's attention.
Ensemble Mirable's recording, made in two different chapels in the Bay Area, but sounding more or less the same throughout, is rich, dark, and warm. One might want to hear a little more of Kim's harpsichord, although the level observed here is in keeping with what would be audible in a concert appearance. Conversations Galantes is a very pleasing musical experience that bodes well for future endeavors by Ensemble Mirable, which is recording on its own dime and has made this disc available at www.magnatune.com. Keep 'em coming!