The recordings for "A Serpent's Dream" were made during the festival in Villefranche-de-Rouergue.

An incredible instrument! Its name is based on the Latin 'serpens' and means 'serpent'. It looks accordingly. Long, winding and bright green with a flickering head, six finger holes, a mouthpiece made of ivory and a resonating chamber in the case of Michel Godard's instrument. Its origins date back to the middle of the Renaissance.
Godard, who has earned the reputation as one of Europe's most important musicians in the border area between jazz, improvisation, folk & classical music since the late 1980s.
Michel Godard brings together renowned musicians in his ensemble 'Le miroir du temps', who want to break out of customary conventions exactly as he does. Katharina Bäuml is one of the leading Baroque oboists today and also specializes in playing the medieval shawm with her own ensemble 'Capella de la Torre', the tone quality of which combines with Michel Godard's serpent in a fascinating way. The theorbo player Bruno Helstroffer also has a lot of experience in historical performance practice, but also experiments with newer ways of playing, which he develops in different contexts. Lucas Niggli, one of the most versatile European drummers in jazz as well as improvised music, knows how to create rhythmically complex and sound-sensitive contexts. Michel Godard also uses the bass guitar; a harmonious extra totally in the spirit of flexibility of Renaissance musicians and the liberties that they took.

The recordings for 'A Serpent's Dream' were made during the festival in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, where the ensemble performed in the Chapelle des Pénitents noirs built in the mid-17th century. The magic of the place seems to flow into the music, as so often is the case in the concerts and productions of Michel Godard. For 'Miserere', Godard used an historic manuscript preserved in the Chapel, and he plays the imaginatively decorated original serpent preserved over the centuries of the Chapelle des Pénitents noirs on two tracks ('Old Black Snake Blues' and 'Le sommeil').

Track Listing

• A Serpent's Dream
• Days of Weeping Delights
• In Splendoribus
• Le Miroir Du Temps
• Miserere
• L'École De La Procrastination
• Le Gardien Des Rêves
• Old Black Snake Blues
• Our Spanish Love Song
• Les Portes Du 7e Ciel
• À La Folie
• A Trace Of Grace
• Le Sommeil

Additional Details

Label: Intuition

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 49:28 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 02/07/25

UPC: 750447344020