Guillemain:
Sonates en quatuors
ou Conversations galantes et amusantes
OEuvre XII, XVII

Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, a violinist at the court of Louis XV, was known by his contemporaries above all

for his virtuosity, his impulsiveness, and also for his extravagant life style. A “rock star” of the eighteenth

century, who in the end died with an injured soul and under mysterious circumstances: his body was found with

fourteen stab wounds.... Yet Guillemain was much more than a passionate virtuoso. His two collections of

Sonates en quatours OEuvre XII (1743) and XVII (1756) which both bear the designation Conversations

galantes et amusantes, present musical images of the intellectually stimulating conversations at the court of

Louis XV in Versailles and captivate with a then modern melodic structure and very demanding, innovative

playing technique. Ensemble Barockin’ has risen to these challenges and recorded the nearly forgotten sonatas,

including two world premieres, for RAUMKLANG. The international ensemble around artistic director Dmitry

Lepekhov (German Record Critic’s Award 2011), with musicians from Russia, Japan, and France, are united in

their dedication to historical performance practice. With their debut CD, they add another jewel to the repertoire

of French late-Baroque chamber music.