Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges - Symphonies and Violin Concertos

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
(1739-1799)

Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges (sometimes spelled Saint-George) (December 25, 1739 – June 10, 1799) was one of the most important figures in the Paris musical scene in the second half of the 18th century, he was also famous as a swordsman and equestrian. Known as the "Black Mozart" or the "Voltaire of music" he was one of the earliest musicians of the European classical type known to have African ancestry.(...)
He was a mulatto born out-of-wedlock in Guadeloupe to Nanon, a former slave of black African descent, and a white French plantation owner of noble birth, Guillaume-Pierre Tavernier de Boullogne. The child was named after his uncle George de Boullogne Saint-Georges. At the age of ten he accompanied his father to France and was enrolled in a private academy. Schooled in both the fine and martial arts, he soon distinguished himself by his extraordinary skill on horseback, in sports, fencing, and music. (...)(Wikipedia)

Saint-Georges, le roi des gymnastes, Saint-Georges, l'élégant mulatre, l'homme à la mode, l'homme supérieur dans tous les exercise du corps, Saint Georges devina un rival dans ce jeune homme qui osait se lancer prés de lui dans la carrière.

(Alexandre Dumas, Le Collier de la Reine)

This work (5 CDs) covers all of the mulatto composer's violin concertos and sinfonie concertantes (12 of the former and 6 of the latter). Volume One also includes a "symphony" which was the overture to the opera L'Amant Anonyme. The miraculous success (as a horseman, fencer, dancer, runner and horseman as well as a composer) of a boy born to a slave mother in the French colony of Guadeloupe can only seem more unbelievable when confronted with such an outpouring of refined and elegant music. Saint-Georges' concertos do not plumb great emotional or philosophical depths but that was not what was expected of such music in Paris at the end of the 18th century and they do conform to the highest exemplars of French concertante works of their time.

Tracklist:

CD 1 (113Mb)
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Symphony in D, Op. 11/2 (Overture to L'Amant Anonyme)
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 3/1
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 8/1
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 2/2

CD 2 (115Mb)
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Violin Concerto in G, Op. 8/9
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 4
Violin Concerto in G, Op. 2/1

CD 3 (115Mb)
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Violin Concerto in C, Op. 5/1
Violin Concerto in B Flat, Op. 7/2
Sinfonia concertante in A for Violin and Viola, Op. 10/2
Sinfonia concertante in E Flat for Violin and Viola, Op. 12

CD 4 (117Mb)
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Violin Concerto in A, Op. 5/2
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 8/10
Symphonie Concertante in F, Op. 10/1
Symphonie Concertante in G, Op. 13

CD 5 (117Mb)
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Symphonie Concertante in C, Op. 9/1
Symphonie Concertante in A, Op. 9/11
Violin Concerto in C, Op. 3/2
Violin Concerto in G, Op. 8/2


Miroslav Vilimec (violin)
Jiri Zilak (violin - Symphonie Concertante)
Jan Motlik (viola)
Pilsen Radio Symphony Orchestra