Trio Sonnerie - La Gamme - MusicWeb International

Apart from the recording from the Alia Vox CD of the soundtrack of Tous les Matins du Monde (Alia Vox AV/AVSA9821) - which, dare I admit, I found a rather boring film - and a Naxos CD of his music performed by Spectre de la Rose, I didn't know the music of Marin Marais at all well. I never got round to the London Baroque Harmonia Mundi CD containing la Gamme and the other works from the 1723 collection, all included on this Linn recording, so I hadn't realised what a remarkable piece la Gamme is.

I have to admit that I don't reach for those two Marais recordings which I own very often - can't remember when I last played them - but I don't think that will be the case with this new Linn recording; the quality of the music, performance and recording all practically guarantee frequent returns. The 24/96 download sound is excellent; there's no need to lament the lack of an SACD equivalent, but I've had the opportunity to compare the stereo SACD tracks from three recent Linn releases with the 24/96 equivalents and have found the latter to emerge well from the comparison, so the Studio Master downloads should be preferable to the CD.

The Forqueray music is a little more workaday by comparison but with an excellent booklet of notes, this is a highly desirable release; it's Trio Sonnerie's debut for Linn and I hope we shall have many more of this calibre.