Julie Anne Sadie’s brief entry in New Grove mentions that Pinel was part of a dynasty of court lutenists whose immediate family had served the Rohan Soubize family from the 1680s, and that in 1736 she acquired an eight-year privilège allowing her to publish vocal and instrumental music. Pinel’s collection Nouveau recueil d’airs sérieux et à boire appeared in 1737, most of the items here coming from it; also included are songs by Pinel’s predecessors Mlles.

Bocquet, Herault, Herville, Denix and Bataille, as well as excerpts from Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s Violin Sonata in D minor. Most of the airs were written for solo soprano, but in Scène pastorale tenor Aaron Sheehan takes the vocal line while Echos indiscrets is sung by a mezzo. La Donna Musicale’s willingness to be flexible both for the sake of variety and better to bring out the many attractive qualities of the music extends to the deployment of instruments as well.

Violin, flute, recorder, viola da gamba, harp, organ and harpsichord provide a myriad of delicately shifting colours. Vocal duets, whether for two sopranos or soprano and baritone, add even further to the listener’s pleasure. This is a disc I will be returning to for a long time to come. WILLIAM YEOMAN

The Pleasures of Love and Libation
La Donna Musicale
LAURY GUTIÉRREZ
LA 07103
2006 · 65:42’