A Musical Offering

Welcomed to Ambronay as part of the Young Artists Residencies scheme, the ensemble Les Ombres bring us a programme based on Bach's A Musical Offering. The result of a challenge to Bach from Frederic II of Prussia – to improvise on a chromatic theme – this chamber music masterpiece displays the musical imagination of the great cantor of Leipzig with spectacular variations, canons, ricercari and fugues for two to six voices… To accompany this unique work, Margaux Blanchard and Sylvain Sartre have selected sonatas by Buxtehude and Quantz, two of Bach's contemporaries.

To mark the occasion of the launch of the Young Ensembles CD collection, Ambronay Editions brings you the first recording by Les Ombres, containing music by François Couperin and François Colin de Blamont. It will be available in the shops on 18 November, and at the Ambronay Festival from mid September!