The cicada and the violins

Description

Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables return to vivid life with La cigale et les violins, thanks to Catherine Perrin’s narration and a musical setting that combines the worlds of Canadian composer Denis Gougeon and of 18th-century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.

The 11 fables chosen for this disc are presented in words and in music by Catherine Perrin. She serves both as narrator — and playing solo or accompanied by Les Violons du Roy directed by Mathieu Lussier — as harpsichordist.

According to Catherine Perrin, who came up with the original concept for this project: “Some fables simply call for a musical setting. I found the perfect ones in Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concert. The great miracle-worker in this project was composer Denis Gougeon. Some of the fables — ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’, ‘The Ant and the Cricket’ — are so well known that he was able to relate them purely in music. For others, he created magnificent cinema for the ear.”