When I was offered the possibility to record the music of Auguste Dautrecourt (the artist formerly known as Sainte Colombe), I immediately renewed my childhood dream: to explore the depths of that strange and mysterious music.
In 1991 the film 'Tous les matins du monde' introduced the lives of M de St Colombe and Marin Marais, and brought the fascinating world of the French 17th century viol virtuosos to a wider audience. Retrouvé et Changé is not only a tribute to my great examples Wieland Kujiken and Jordi Savall (who recorded the film soundtrack, bringing the personalities of these formerly obscure composers into the light of the 20th century). It also offers a new and different view of the music of St Colombe.
Our approach to Dautrecourt's works clarifies the harmonic and rhythmic structures of the music by adding continuo accompaniments (as Marais did himself, in his first book of viol music), amplifying and intensifying the meaning of the music. In some sonatas, we have allotted the second viol part to a plucked continuo instrument: harp, lute or theorbo, whilst remaining exclusively in the sound-world of the late 17th century.
Retrouvé et Changé is music that was 'retrieved and changed' from St Colombe's original when originally published by its 17th century compiler - we have retrieved and changed it again, as musicians have at all times taken the liberty to use eachother's material, and adapt it to their purposes, to their instruments and to their vision.