Jean-joseph de Mondonville (1711-72)

Born to an impoverished aristocratic family in the south-western French town of Narbonne, Mondonville moved to Paris in 1733 where he gained the patronage of the king’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. He eventually gained employment as a violinist with the Concert Spirituel, an organisation which gave public concerts. He was employed by the Chapelle royale and at the king’s chamber, and in 1744 was appointed intendent of the

Royal Chapel. In 1755 he became director of the Concert Spirituel. a genuine world premiere recording. Like Couperin and Leclair before him Mondonville was skilled in the blending and juxtaposition of Italian and French idioms. In faster movements Italian elements play a more conspicuous role with lively, often virtuosic writing for the two violins and a contrapuntally-based movement in each Sonata. More typically French are the aria-like character and cantabile writing of the slow movements. It is here, above all, that echoes of Leclair can be found and especially perhaps in the beautiful third movement of the G major Sonata, one of two here in which a flute is substituted for the second violin in accordance with the composer’s suggestion.

Ensemble Diderot is an accomplished group which plays and thinks homogeneously. Only the opening Adagio of the E minor Sonata sounds a little unsettled. Otherwise this is imaginative and pleasingly ornamented playing of music that is well worth a detour. Recorded sound is clear and appropriately intimate. Nicholas Anderson