Mysterious Barricades

In this album, Scott Tennant invites listeners on a journey through the Baroque world, bringing together some of his most cherished works from one of the richest periods in Western music history. Mysterious Barricades presents a wide range of compositional styles by masters who were not only extraordinary writers, but also virtuosi of their respective instruments.

By transposing these works to the modern classical guitar, Tennant reaffirms the instrument as a natural heir to the harpsichord, lute, and theorbo traditions, revealing new colors, resonances, and expressive possibilities. The result is a refined and inspired interpretation that revives the Baroque spirit through the contemporary voice of the guitar.

The program includes the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, whose textures and idiomatic gestures evoke the Iberian guitar tradition; the elegant mystery of Les Barricades Mystérieuses by François Couperin; and the brilliance of La Fanfarinette by Jean-Philippe Rameau.

The Baroque tradition of adaptation is highlighted in the works associated with Robert de Visée — court musician to Louis XIV and XV — including pieces by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Couperin himself, transmitted through historical practices of arranging and reimagining music across instruments. Modern transcriptions inspired by the musicological work of Alexander Dunn bring the sonorities of the theorbo and lute closer to the expressive palette of the contemporary guitar.

The album further expands its scope with the inventive writing of Georg Philipp Telemann, whose solo works unfold with structural fluency on the guitar; the profound expressiveness of Sylvius Leopold Weiss, the leading German lutenist of his time; and the poetic intensity of the Lamento by Johann Jakob Froberger, a powerful example of the Baroque suite as emotional and narrative form.

More than a tribute to the past, Mysterious Barricades reaffirms the guitar as an instrument of historical synthesis and timeless expression. With stylistic sensitivity and technical mastery, Scott Tennant illuminates the many facets of the European Baroque, offering a listening experience that is sophisticated, compelling, and deeply musical.