30 May 2019
The Marais Project's 20th birthday "Garden Party"
The Marais Project release, The Garden Party, celebrates 20 years for the early music ensemble. It has a festive anniversary flavour and includes several world premieres, not the least of which is the Eriksson-penned title track. “Perhaps their best recording yet. Ravishing!” says one reviewer.
Early music ensemble, The Marais Project, has never followed a predictable path. Their recorded output over the past 20 years has been impressive and varied: six CDs covering a gamut of repertoire from the French and Swedish baroque to folk song and jazz. In addition, Director Jenny Eriksson has commissioned and premiered some 25 new Australian compositions creating a whole new repertoire for her instrument, the viola da gamba.
Eriksson's opening track, The Garden Party, is a cheeky take on Marin Marais' Feste Champêtre, one of his most celebrated works. There is a superb Australian-first arrangement of a Marais suite for viola da gamba and piano accordion by Emily-Rose Šárkova. As well as playing the piano accordion Šárkova arranged the two spirited South American songs which close the recording.
Woven between the new repertoire, which makes up more than 50% of the track list, Eriksson and highly-regarded producer Llew Kiek have included selected music from several previous CDs, each of which was released on the Move label. The earlier material spans from the French baroque to Swedish folk song and serves to illustrate the broad range of musical styles and cultures the group embraces . Brilliantly mixed by long-term sound engineer, Chris Doherty, the CD's mastering is by Michael Lynch.
Further reading
The Garden Party
The Marais Project’s latest offering, The Garden Party, has a festive anniversary flavour and includes several world premieres, not the least of which is the Eriksson-penned title track.
The Marais Project
If you love interesting, out of the way music and relaxed, concert settings you will love The Marais Project! Jennifer Eriksson originally founded the group in 2000 to perform the complete works of Marin Marais an 18th century genius of my instrument, the viola da gamba. Over the years our repertoire has greatly expanded and now includes a huge range of wonderful vocal and instrumental music for the viola da gamba from the 1300s to the present day. They also commission and arrange new music for the ensemble.
Jennifer Eriksson
Jenny Eriksson completed her initial musical studies at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music studying music education and cello with Barbara Woolley. She subsequently studied the viola da gamba with Jaap ter Linden at the Rotterdam Conservatorium for three years where she completed post-graduate studies in baroque music.
