It was between the publication of the Quatrième Livre de Pièces de Violes in 1717 and the Cinquième in 1725 that Marin Marais offered his public an exceptional collection of works that use both the violin and the viol.

These works are very different from the earlier viol pieces, from the instruments used to the works’ formal structures: they include a sonata inspired by Italian models marked à la marésienne (in Marais’ own style), a piece on a three note basso ostinato that evokes the peals of bells in a Parisian church, and an astonishing monument of a piece — La Gamme — that Marais described as an example of a small opera for instruments.

THE SCALE KNITTERS
Fiona-Émilie Poupard- violin
Marion Martineau- bass violin
Atsushi Sakai- bass viol
Magnus Andersson- theorbo
Brice Sailly- harpsichord