Finnish lutenist Tuomas Kourula performs La petite Brunette by Robert de Visée (1655-1733) on theorbo via the Turku Early Music Society and their YouTube channel. Beautiful performance by Kourula with a excellent pacing which sets the mood so well. I also love the setting and the rock holding up the iPad at the end which seems to perfectly represent a lute player in the modern world. Here’s the YouTube description:
“We have a daughter with brown hair and I used to think of her when playing this beautiful, thoughtful piece by Robert de Visée. Later I learned that a “brunette” is actually a song form of French baroque music. The main source of brunettes calls them “Brunetes ou petits airs tendres”, which describes very well the piece I’m playing in this video: a small, tender song. This video was shot in an old, derelict tram paint shop – a place full of character in every sense: visual, aural and olfactory. You can hear the resonance of the room in the video, and there’s something symbolic and hopeful in the way some light finds it’s way through the cracks in the door.”
