Le Concert Des Nations

The newest of the groups formed by viola da gamba player Jordi Savall, Le Concert des Nations has become an influential force in the historically informed performance of Renaissance and Baroque instrumental music. The group has performed by itself, under Savall's direction, and has also accompanied his instrumental-vocal group La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Le Concert des Nations has amassed a substantial recording catalog on such labels as Naïve, Astrée, and, since 1999, Savall's Alia Vox. In 2025, the group, under Savall, released the album Symphonies oubliées: Schumann - Symphonie g-Moll "Zwickauer"; Bruckner - Symphonie d-Moll "Nullte." Savall formed Le Concert des Nations in 1989; the name was suggested by that of a group of trio sonatas by François Couperin (1726) that itself evoked the cosmopolitan and international nature of Parisian music of the day. At the time, the group was unusual in the realm of historically oriented instrumental music; few such groups had been established on the Iberian Peninsula. As the name suggests, its membership is international, with members coming from across the Iberian peninsula and from beyond. Unlike other Savall groups, Le Concert des Nations has explored the music of the 18th and even the 19th centuries, having recorded Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ("Eroica"), for the Naïve label in 1997. Although the group has performed and recorded the likes of Handel's Water Music, much of its output has been concerned with lost or neglected music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The group has appeared with Savall's vocal group La Capella Reial de Catalunya and has performed in productions in major Spanish and French opera houses, including the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid. Independently, it has toured widely, across Western and Central Europe, and in the U.S. Quite early on, in 1995, Le Concert des Nations recorded the complete orchestral works of composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, and a 1998 recording featured orchestral suites by the still-unfamiliar composer Guillaume Dumanoir. In 2000, the group joined La Capella Reial de Catalunya for a recording of Biber's substantial Missa Bruxellensis. The group's recording schedule in the 2000s has been busy and has also included perennial favorites; it recorded Handel's Messiah, HWV 56, in 2019. The recordings of Le Concert des Nations since 1999 have appeared on Savall's Alia Vox label. They have grown more and more frequent; since 2019, more than 15 albums by Le Concert des Nations have been released, and the group often serves as a platform for Savall's application of historical performance principles to music of the 19th century. In 2025, the group, with Savall, issued the album Symphonies oubliées: Schumann - Symphonie g-Moll "Zwickauer"; Bruckner - Symphonie d-Moll "Nullte" on Alia Vox. ~ James Manheim, Rovi