Blessed Echoes Près de votre oreille & Robin Pharo

• Alfonso Ferrabosco (1575 - 1628): Like Hermit poore (Arr. for Viola DaGamba and Voice by Robin Pharo):
• 1Ferrabosco: Like Hermit poore (Arr. for Viola DaGamba and Voice by Robin Pharo)04:18
• Robert Jones (b. 1945): Lie down poor heart:
• 2Jones: Lie down poor heart04:41
• Thomas Ford (1580 - 1648): A Pavin, Sir Richard Westons delight:
• 3Ford: A Pavin, Sir Richard Westons delight05:10
• Robert Jones: If in this Flesh:
• 4Jones: If in this Flesh04:03
• Michael Cavendish (1565 - 1628): Wandring in this place:
• 5Cavendish: Wandring in this place03:16
• John Dowland (1563 - 1626): Go Crystal teares:
• 6Dowland: Go Crystal teares03:49
• Alfonso Ferrabosco: Almain II for two lyra viols, the first tunning:
• 7Ferrabosco: Almain II for two lyra viols, the first tunning02:52
• Thomas Ford: How shall I then discribe my love:
• 8Ford: How shall I then discribe my love03:35
• John Dowland: Farewell fantaisie:
• 9Dowland: Farewell fantaisie04:34
• Alfonso Ferrabosco: Coranto I for two lyra-viols, the first tunning:
• 10Ferrabosco: Coranto I for two lyra-viols, the first tunning01:26
• Philipp Rosseter (1568 - 1623): When Laura Smiles (Arr. for Voices by Robin Pharo):
• 11Rosseter: When Laura Smiles (Arr. for Voices by Robin Pharo)03:02
• Robert Jones: What if I seeke for love:
• 12Jones: What if I seeke for love01:43
• Thomas Ford: Not full twelve yeeres twice tolde:
• 13Ford: Not full twelve yeeres twice tolde02:57
• John Dowland: Can she excuse my wrongs (Arr. for Viola DaGamba by Robin Pharo):
• 14Dowland: Can she excuse my wrongs (Arr. for Viola DaGamba by Robin Pharo)04:28
• Robert Jones: Once did I serve a cruel heart:
• 15Jones: Once did I serve a cruel heart01:59
• Thomas Ford: A Pavin, M Maines Choice:
• 16Ford: A Pavin, M Maines Choice06:06
• Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620): Never weather-beaten saile:
• 17Campion: Never weather-beaten saile04:30
• Anthony Holborne (1545 - 1602): Paradizo (Arr. for Viola DaGamba by Robin Pharo):
• 18Holborne: Paradizo (Arr. for Viola DaGamba by Robin Pharo)04:03
• Robin Pharo: Réversibilité:
• 19Pharo: Réversibilité05:46
• Total Runtime01:12:18

Info for Blessed Echoes

Robin Pharo and the ensemble Près de votre oreille offer a fascinating dive into the English vocal repertoire of the late 16th century.

At the end of the 16th century, which was also the reign of Elizabeth I, the fashion for the Italian madrigal had indeed fertilized the English musical genius, already fond of vocality. A rich repertoire was born, that of the Lute Song, a song accompanied by the lute, otherwise known as Ayre. If Dowland's genius overshadowed his contemporaries, this program seeks to do them justice. It reveals their ability to adapt to the style by developing it into a vocal quartet and by adding other equally interesting instruments. The reduced number of instruments allows us to enter into the intimacy and poetry of these works. Here, we are told of anonymous lovers, of the ordinary beauties of nature, of simple but profound sorrows, and then, of course, of this omnipresent, daily death, which we frequent in familiarity.

Ensemble Près
Anaïs Bertrand, mezzo-soprano
Paul Figuier, countertenor
Martial Pauliat, tenor
Geoffroy Buffière, bass
Thibaut Roussel, renaissance lute
Ronan Khalil, virginal
Marion Martineau, iola da gamba
Robin Pharo, musical director, viola da gamba

Robin Pharo
started the viola da gamba at 5 with Jean Louis Charbonnier, Caroline Howald, Ariane Maurette and Christophe Coin at the Music and Dance’s National Conservatory of Paris, where he obtained a Master Degree. He is a founder member of the Quartet Nevermind with whom he won the third prize and the special festival prize at the Van Wassenaer competition in Utrecht. Nevermind has been invited to play all over Europe, in Russia, in Iceland and USA and has recorded, Conversations (2016), Quatuors Parisiens (2017) and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (2021) with Alpha Classic Label. He played with the actor Benjamin Lazar in the show L’Autre Monde ou les états et Empires de la lune and has been engaged in numerous early music bands such as Le Poème Harmonique (Vincent Dumestre), La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy (Jean-Claude Malgoire), l'ensemble Pygmalion (Raphaël Michon), Capriccio Stravagante (Skip Sempé), ensemble Desmarest (Ronan Khalil), ensemble La Rêveuse (Florence Bolton et Benjamin Perrot), ensemble Marguerite-Louise (Gaétan Jarry), La Tempête (Simon-Pierre Bestion de Camboulas), ensemble Maja (Bianca Chillemi), Vox Luminis (Lionel Meunier), ensemble Gilles Binchois (Dominique Vellard), La Capella Mediterranea (Leonardo Garcia Alarcon), ensemble Sagittarius (Michel Laplénie), L'Achéron (François Joubert-Caillet), ensemble Stravaganza (Domitille Gilon & Thomas Soltani) etc.

Robin Pharo recorded for the label Paraty the disc L'Anonyme Parisien, devoted to the virtuosic viola da gamba pieces composed by Charles Dollé. In 2017, he creates the ensemble Près de votre oreille (Near Your Ear).

He crates with Anaïs Bertrand 4 pieces for mezzo soprano and gamba composed by Fabien Touchard and one pice by Rika Suzuki. He collaborates with the choregrapher Thierry Thieu Niang and composes the music of the show Au Cœur, programmed at the festival d’Avignon, in 2016. In 2018, he will perform in the show Romances Inciertos, created by the dancer François Chaignaud and the stage manager Nino Laisné. He works presently with contemporary composers such as Philippe Hersant (with whom he creates Hypnos and La Harpe de David), Rika Suzuki, Yassen Vodenitcharov and Jean-Marc Chouvel (with whom he creates Les Trois ailes du papillon). He also loves improvising in different styles, and in April 2012, he’s invited to accompany Bobby McFerrin, at the Châtelet Theater, in Paris.

Booklet for Blessed Echoes