"Cem Duruöz has taken two of Marin Marais' finest suites for viola da gamba and basso continuo, and transcribed both parts into extremely attractive new music for guitar. Marais states in the Preface to his Second Book of Pieces for Viola da gamba that the music may be played on the guitar, as well as other instruments, but this is the first time I have heard anyone attempt it on the guitar."
What is particularly remarkable about Cem Duruöz' transcriptions and performance is that he has truly captured the essence of these works so that Marais' music comes across as naturally on the guitar as on the viola da gamba. He also demonstrates an impressive mastery the French baroque performance style, in both his execution of the subtle ornamentation that characterizes Marais' music and in his sensitivity to the emotional affect of each piece. The two "Tombeaus" for Marais' teachers St. Colombe and Lully are high points of this literature, and both have been given particularly excellent performances in his recording. This recording would obviously appeal to guitarists, but would also be very attractive to all listeners who like music of the Baroque Era." - John Dornenburg, gambist.
Tracks 1-8 are selections from the E Minor Suite from Book 2. This suite includes the Tombeau pour Mr. de Ste Colombe, the monumental piece which Marais wrote for the death of his teacher. The viol version of this tombeau (track 7) was included in the soundtrack of the movie Tous Les Matins du Monde.
Tracks 9-17 are from the B Minor Suite in Book 2, where the composer wrote his other important tombeau for his next teacher, Jean-Baptiste Lully.
Tracks 18-19 are character pieces, which describe a gallbladder stone surgery without anesthetics at the time of the composer. Marais wrote small phrases in Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille describing the graphic details of such a surgery. In the recording these are read by Valérie-Anne Schneider.
Track 20 is a Chaconne, which has idioms like tremolo which transcribe very well to the guitar.
Track 21, Turkish March, reflects the common trend in the classical music of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, of imitating the music of the Military Band of the Ottoman Empire, which was then threatening central Europe by military invasions in Balkans.
Suite en Mi mineur
1 Prélude, II.96
2 Allemande, II.98
3 Courante, II.99
4 Sarabande à l’Espagnol, II.101 - mp3 sound
5 Gigue, II.102
6 Rondeau Champêtre, II.104
7 Tombeau pour Mr. de Ste. Colombe, II.109
8 Fugue Gaie, II.110
Suite en La mineur (Orig. Si mineur)
9 Prélude, II.83 - mp3 sound
10 Petite Fantaisie, II.84
11 Allemande, II.85
12 Courante, II.87
13 Sarabande, II.88
14 Gigue, II.90
15 Menuet, II.92 - pdf score
16 Gavotte, II.93
17 Tombeau pour Mr. de Lully, II.95
18 Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille*, V.108
19 Les Relevailles*, V.109 - mp3 sound
20 Chaconne en Rondeau, II.82, en La majeur (Orig. Sol majeur)
21 Marche à la Turque, V.21, en Ré majeur (Orig. La majeur)
*With Narration
Marin Marais composed four operas and a quantity of chamber music, but he is remembered almost exclusively for his 500+ pieces (in five books) for the bass viol (basse de viole) and continuo; the equivalent Italian term viola da gamba refers to the position in which the viol is played, resting on the legs (gamba = leg). In his youth he studied the viol with Sainte-Colombe, the most famous and influential virtuoso and teacher of that time, but only for six months. Thereafter Sainte-Colombe refused to continue, not because he had nothing more to impart to his precocious pupil but because he feared he was in danger of being surpassed by him. Marais is said to have hidden under the floor boards of his master's summer house in the hope of seeing or hearing something that had been withheld from him! Marais also studied composition with Lully, with whom he became associated in the production of his operas.
Sainte-Colombe's worst fears were realised in 1676 when Marais was appointed Ordinaire de la chambre duo Roi pour la viole, a post he held until 1725 when he retired and passed it to his son Vincent. 1676 was also the year of his marriage, in which his fecundity (19 children!) rivalled his compositional prolificity!
When Lully became Maître de la musique de la famille royale in 1662, Italia musical style had become as popular in France as it was elsewhere in Europe. Lully's decision to establish a characteristically French style was enthusiastically greeted by his master Louis XIV, and it shaped the style of his student Marais. French style aimed at simplicity and clarity of form, avoidance of excess of chromaticism, and the use of ornamentation solely for accentuation. Le Cerf wrote: "French music may be compared with a beautiful woman, whose simple natural beauty wins all hearts without fear of being obscured by the simpering airs affected by the extravagant coquette who tries to seduce at all costs - and with whom we have already compared Italian music." Germans and Italians relied on the double-bass as a foundation, the French favoured the bass viol. Le Blanc commented: "The tone of the gamba is delicate and slightly nasal, like the voice of a diplomat" and went on to add: "The French are entirely devoted to the symmetrical dissemination of musical patterns that can be compared with the elegant box-hedges of the Tuilleries Gardens."
The practice of playing pairs of "equal" notes (most usually eighth-notes) unequally, dwelling longer on one or the other, has probably been with us since the earliest times of musical history - as an option rather than a mandate. It became so entrenched in French baroque music (notes inégales) that François Couperin devised a method of notation to indicate when he wanted such pairs to be played equally. The inequality of dotted rhythms was automatically exaggerated because the use of double-dotting had either not yet been invented, or had not passed into general use, according to place and/or period.
Jean Rousseau's "Traité de viole" (1687) describes two modes of viol music: le jeu de mélodie (melodic style) and le jeu d'harmonie (harmonic style). In the latter, single notes and chords are admixed; in England it was known as "the lyra way" and a smaller bass viol with less taut strings was used. The viol has few chords to play in the Suites here recorded, and their spacings do not always sit happily on the classic guitar. In adapting the music for the latter it is necessary to support the melodic lines with harmonies derived from the continuo parts; this was normal practice when reworking music for different instrumental media in baroque times.
The items in Marais' Suites (as few as seven and as many as 41) are grouped in no consistent pattern, as are those if Couperin's 27 Ordres (for the harpsichord), from which a performer may choose some, rather than play them all! The two Suites in this recording are of moderate dimensions: That in E minor has 16 movements, that in B minor has 13, from which Cem Duruöz has chosen 8 and 9 respectively. The usual dance movements of the period often keep company with rondeaux, fantaisies, chaconnes, tombeaux and "character pieces", the significance of the titles of which are not always clear. Instrumental laments on the deaths of respected persons date from early times; the term tombeau (tomb, monument) was first used by French lutenists and was inherited by other instrumentalists - as was much or the ornamentation used in French baroque music, and it is most often in the form of an Allemande. The “departed” was not always quite so virtuous as the tribute suggests: A certain M.Blancrocher, for whom three tombeaux were written, met his death by falling downstairs when drunk! Lully and Sainte-Colombe, Marais' teachers, were clearly worthy of the respect paid in their tombeaux.
The French nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques" does not reveal that its eponym, a monk, was the inventor of the operation to remove a gall stone, described in Marais' Le Tableau de l'Opération de la Taille, the ultimate “character piece”! Marais may himself have undergone the operation; gall stones were common among the upper classes, caused by their consumption of too much salt meat. Les Relevailles represents the joy and relief on having survived and recovered from this agonising experience. The script of this dramatic production is as follows:
The depiction of a waist surgery:
The description of the apparatus.
Shaking after seeing it.
Decision to climb on it.
Reaching the top.
Lowering the apparatus.
Serious reflections.
Clamping of the arms and legs.
Here the incision is made.
The insertion of the retractor.
Here the stone is removed.
Here the voice is almost lost.
Blood flowing.
Here the clamps are removed.
Here you are taken to the bed.
Recovery.
© JOHN W. DUARTE (1999)
"More than a very good guitarist; also a good arranger and a particularly fine communicator with his audience." wrote New York Concert Review –one of the many accolades that guitarist Cem Duruöz has received from critics.
Mr. Duruöz’ recent concert appearances include his Carnegie Hall Debut Recital at the Weill Recital Hall in New York, performances of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey and recitals at the Hondarribia Guitar Festival in France, the Istanbul Guitar Festival In Turkey and Redwood Arts Council Series in the USA. His 2004-2005 season performances will include a French Baroque concert at the prestigious Istanbul Festival, a repeat appearance with a tango concert at La Guitarra California Festival in the USA as well as recitals and master-classes in Turkey, Poland and the USA.
Being interested in early music, Mr. Duruöz (www.duruoz.com) transcribed and recorded some of the gamba music by French baroque composer Marin Marais in his first solo CD “Pièces de Viole”, which received critical acclaim in international magazines such as American Record Guide, Fanfare, Classics Today, Classical Guitar and BBC Music (Centaur CRC 2498, www.piecesdeviole.com). On the other hand, being a contemporary music enthusiast, he commissioned new works from emerging composers and recorded them in his second CD “Contemporary Music for Guitar” (Centaur CRC 2563), along with masterpieces of the guitar repertoire by Walton and Davidovsky. His new solo CD Desde El Alma – Tango Classics has been released under Karinca label.
Turkish born guitarist Cem Duruöz, (or "Gem" as pronounced in his native tongue) won the first prize in the Turkish National Guitar Competition at the age of seventeen. After moving to the United States he completed his graduate guitar studies at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin. He performed in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, France, Greece, and throughout Turkey and the USA. As an enthusiastic educator, Cem Duruöz has been conducting master-classes throughout the world and teaching guitar performance at Wesleyan University in the USA.