Customer Reviews

Loeillet: Sonatas & Triosonatas

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If you want a recording of music of the Loeillet family, this is pretty much the only one available. Fortunately, it's quite good.
Three Loeillets are featured. Confusingly, two cousins were both named Jean-Baptiste, and are distinguished by their professional locations: de Londres (London) and de Gant (Ghent). Jacques Loeillet, brother of "de Londres", is also included.
I first encountered "de Gant" in playing his flute and guitar music, which is outstanding. The sonatas on this CD are all a definite class above your "normal" baroque works, if not quite of the standard or originality of Handel or Bach - and this applies to all three Loeillets. Included are works for recorder, transverse flute and oboe, accompanied by cello and harpsichord or, in one instance, organ. Performances are sound throughout. Points of interest are a sonata featuring both recorder and flute, and the sonata with organ accompaniment which creates a smooth if dense sound.
I found the recording acoustics unconvincing. The resonance and decay seems well tailored to the recorder, but the continuo, flutes and especially the oboe could have benefited from a different acoustic environment - something not beyond modern recording technology.
This is a digital recording (DDD) from 2006 with over an hour of music. It's attractively packaged and includes a booklet of notes on the works, sources and historical context.
Definitely recommended.