You may think the orthodoxies of the historically informed performance movement have sunk in pretty comprehensively by now; that the movement’s watchdogs can relax in the knowledge that we’re generally approaching Baroque and Classical music with integrity, whether at the authentically inclined 18th-century theatre at Drottingholm or at Covent Garden, with its more eclectic approach to period performance.
Christophe Rousset is not so complacent: ‘Many groups these days pretend to know, but do something else,’ says the French harpsichordist and conductor. ‘I was taught in The Hague to follow the path faithfully, so when we use natural trumpets, we use properly natural trumpets – not ones that are adapted to avoid the risks. It’s not the same.’
‘We’ is Les Talens Lyriques, the group Rousset founded just over 25 years ago in Paris after serving his apprenticeship alongside William Christie and other doyens of the Early Music scene.