Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) for hpsch by Louis Couperin. Soloist: Glen Wilson.

This new release is the first volume in a projected cycle of the complete keyboard works of Francois Couperin, which will eventually comprise approximately twelve releases. For the entirety of this series, special attention is and will be given to the selection of appropriate historical harpsichords. French Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist Francois Couperin, he was known to many as Couperin le Grand (“Couperin the Great”) in order to distinguish him from other members of his musically talented family. Heavily influenced by the works of Corelli, he blends together Italian and French styles in much of his music. Harpsichordist Mark Kroll has long been a strong advocate of Couperin’s keyboard literature, and here shows his knowledge and expertise in this music’s interpretation.

This is Volume 4 in Centaur's integral edition of the Complete Pieces de Clavecin of Francois Couperin, performed on harpsichord by Mark Kroll. Mark Kroll has made a specialty of Couperin throughout his long and distinguished career. Mark Kroll has performed on four continents as a harpsichordist and fortepianist, in both solo recital and as a collaborative chamber musician. Highlights include an appearance as the official guest of the city of Barcelona; featured soloist in Germany’s Regensburg Early Music Festival, France’s Festival Ambronay and the Bordeaux Hummel Festival; two concerts for the Czech Republic’s Prague Spring Festival; and recitals at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome’s Conservatorio Santa Caecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland’s Dni Bachowski, and Slovenija’s Radovljica Festival. This recording was made on a 1974 William Dowd harpsichord at Brooks Concert Hall, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, and a 1769 Pascal Taskin harpsichord in the private instrument collection of Marlowe A. Sigal, Newton Centre, Massachusetts.

COUPERIN Suites for Viola da gamba: No. 1 in e; No. 2 in A. Pièces de clavecin: 27th Ordre • Mikko Perkola (vdg); Aapo Häkkinen (hpd) • NAXOS 8.570944 (60: 03)

Here is an absolutely ravishing disc of music for viola da gamba and harpsichord by arguably one of the two greatest composers of the French Baroque, François Couperin (1668–1733), the other composer being Jean-Phillippe Rameau (1683–1764). Between 1713 and 1730, Couperin produced four volumes or books of keyboard suites containing a combined total between them of 27 suites, which he called “Ordres.” Here Aapo Häkkinen, one of my favorite harpsichordists (see review of his Goldberg Variations in 33:3), plays the concluding suite, the 27th Ordre from the fourth and final book, one of the shorter suites consisting of only four movements, on a beautiful 2008 Keith Hill copy of a 1769 harpsichord by Paris maker Pascal Taskin.

Two years earlier, in 1728, Couperin set to work composing the two suites for viola da gamba and harpsichord, the only two such entries in his catalog. Like his keyboard suites, the viola da gamba works also vary in number and stylization of movements. They are, however, more formalized than the keyboard suites, which are largely made up of pieces caractéristiques , pictorializing in music people, places, and things. In fact, the layouts of the two viola da gamba suites anticipate the da camera and da chiesa type sonata formats found in Bach’s Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas and Partitas.

The E-Minor Suite follows the da camera or partita pattern of dance movements—Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte, and Gigue, enclosed within an opening Prélude and a closing six-minute-long Passacaille ou Chaconne. The A-Major Suite conforms to the da chiesa layout of four movements—slow, fast, slow, fast—with Couperin opting for a short second-movement titled Fuguète . While the third and fourth movements satisfy the slow, fast formal requirement, the composer can’t resist anthropomorphizing them with extra-musical titles, Pompe funèbre (“funeral director”) and La Chemise-blanche , which Keith Anderson’s program note suspects is a reference to something other than a white shirt, perhaps a popular song of the time. Incidentally, Anderson translates Pompe funèbre as “funeral procession,” but according to my French dictionary, the word for “procession” is procession or for a funeral, cortège. Pompe funèbre is translated as funeral director and undertaker as entrepreneur de pompes funèbres . It may be a minor point, but given Couperin’s inclination to paint musical portraits of actual people he knew, he might well have intended the movement as a character sketch of a funeral director with whom he was acquainted.

In any case, gambist Mikko Perkola performs the two suites on a 1998 Guy Harrison copy of a 1691 viola da gamba by Paris maker Michel Colichon. The six-stringed instrument pictured in the booklet is gorgeously vibrant and full-throated, yet at the same time, as played by Perkola, sweet of voice and translucent of tone. I could listen to this disc for hours on end. It’s absolutely and enthusiastically recommended.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Following on from the success of the Red and Yellow series (a total of twenty-eight reissues), which have restored to the limelight the treasures of the label’s Baroque music catalogues, here are fourteen new titles offering a chance to renew acquaintance with further gems of the Baroque as well as a number of rarities. This third series also expands to embrace the Classical repertory (Mozart, Haydn etc.) and other cultures, notably those of the East, in recordings that form an integral part of Alpha’s identity and history. The fourteen reissues are performed by the leading musicians in the relevant repertory; most of these discs received one or more press distinctions on their first release. They are accompanied by full booklets, with articles in three languages (English, French, German) and richly illustrated chronologies. A wide range of photographers have provided the cover illustrations for the series, this time with the colour blue as the unifying thread.

Includes work(s) by François Couperin. Soloists: Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Mikko Perkola, Aapo Häkkinen.

Although we usually associate Masses with vocal music, these solo organ works by a very young François Couperin (published in 1690) are examples of a form and style common to the place and time--one that included the organ as a significant part of the celebration of Mass, either replacing or enhancing sections of the spoken liturgy. The producers of this outstanding recording--presented in vivid, palpably realistic sound on two CDs--have chosen to include only the organ's contributions to these services, wisely eliminating the interspersed plainchant passages that would have occurred in a normal service.


While the purely musical rewards of this recital are many--Couperin exhibits an impressive range of formal/structural technical mastery, particularly regarding counterpoint and use of texture, register, and articulation for expressive/dramatic effect--organ enthusiasts will absolutely want to hear this for the commanding presence of the organ itself. The well-preserved, minimally altered 18th-century François-Henri Clicquot organ at Poitiers Cathedral is one of the world's treasures, and its indisputably authentic French credentials are on full display here, particularly regarding the assertive, rich-colored reeds (the 16' bombarde pedal stop is a treat!) and lively, lustrous winds. Organist Jean-Baptiste Robin knows this instrument well and delightfully exploits its multifarious voices (if only we had a list of the registrations he uses on each track) while making sure we hear the important inner lines and plainchant themes. If you love organ music, don't miss this--and don't be afraid to turn it up!
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

COUPERIN, F.: Music for Harpsichord, Vol. 1

Couperin, F.: Messe A L'Usage Ordinaire Des Paroisses / Balb

Close your eyes, and try to imagine: 300 years ago, in a very dark, forbidding church, the service goes on and on. Fifteen candles are extinguished, one by one, at the closing of each psalm. Shadows enfold the congregation, and in the midst of this eerie backdrop, two high voices sing their lament. The music is solemn, pure, and deeply moving.


Beautiful? Most certainly. But also very distant from our own busy, frivolous reality.


Unlike a lot of the Baroque repertoire, these are pieces that require getting used to, or at least the willingness to spend some tranquil time immersed in a world of devotion. So be prepared: this is not music that grabs you right away, that makes you feel like singing or dancing. But for all who need to pray (religiousness aside!), this might be just the right Easter gift (the careful production by BIS is an added bonus: excellent liner notes by Jean-Paul Vachon, sound engineering that effectively captures the aural atmosphere of a church, and apt graphic design).


Originally, the Tenebrae lessons for the Holy Week were intended to arouse feelings of the deepest contrition. Held in the middle of the night (at around 3 :00 am), when darkness was complete (hence the Tenebrae ), the lessons were sung to very sad texts attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, as part of a mass performed with great dramatic flair, including the flickering light of candles which were then put out, symbolizing Jesus?s abandonment by his apostles. But humanity is mundane, of course. Little by little, the ceremony gained more earthly overtones. First, it was held at a more convenient time?in the afternoon. Then it became a showcase for the famous singers of the day, who could thus show off their piousness (and their beautiful tone!) to a very large audience.


In the 18th century, many important composers wrote versions of Leçons . Couperin´s remaining three pieces (of a group of nine) are the best known nowadays, and with good reason. In the intimate setting of a chamber work, Couperin achieves what a more grandiose-minded composer might not have: to convey true solitude, true repentance, and true sorrow.


For a long time, Couperin?s Leçons de ténèbres remained the province of the aficionado. In the past decades, however, they seem to have gained a surprising popularity, and some beautiful recordings have come to light, including excellent ones by Gerard Lesne/Steve Dugardin and James Bowman/Michael Chance, which, as in the present version by Theatre of Early Music, also resort to the unusual voices of two countertenors (normally, the leçons are sung by two sopranos). The advantage: a darker tone, sweeter and less lyrical, without the sharper edge we find so often in women?s voices. This, in itself, would be a point of interest. Notwithstanding the tough competition, the Theatre of Early Music holds its own, and manages to create a very moving rendering of the work, as well as of the sublime Magnificat included in the package. Both singers are first-rate, and although their individuality is always retained, their voices blend beautifully. Blaze and Taylor show their intimacy with the style?no mechanical vibrato here, or extravagant feats of virtuosity. They sing with simplicity and fluency, and with an austerity that fits the text without ever becoming frigid. The accompanying instrumentalists are equally masterful and discreet, each calmly serving the music.


For a long time, theologians spent their days discussing the sex of the angels. After hearing this CD, I am inclined to agree with those who held that heavenly creatures must have been male.


FANFARE: Laura Rónai

This reverie offered by Brice Sailly in homage to François Couperin is presented in the guise of a trip to Arcadia, that utopian land which lies hidden in the heart of European geography. The selected harpsichord pieces, most of them evoking childhood and the birth of love, sit beside excerpts from the Concerts royaux that set the scene rather as Watteau might have done, leaving to the less well-known airs de cour the task of describing sentiments in words. Couperin discreetly whispers the most luminous of truths. Here all is benevolence, a smile on the lips, a light heart, and melancholy is gently dismissed in favor of consolation. Open to various musical activities, Brice Sailly is a member and founder of the Franco-Icelandic group Susser Trost and has done projects with many artists, from early music specialists to musicians of the electronic music scene.

“The harpsichord is perfect in its compass, and brilliant in itself; but, as one can neither swell nor diminish its notes, I shall always be grateful to those who, through consummate art sustained by good taste, manage to make this instrument capable of expression.” Why is it difficult to play the music of Francois Couperin when it seems so simple at first glance? By offering precious information on the interpretation of his music (and more generally on the interpretation of French music of his time) in his treatise L’Art de toucher le clavecin (The art of harpsichord playing), Couperin provides us with the necessary elements for today’s performer, who seeks above all to respect the composer’s intentions. However, fear of not going beyond the indications given by the latter and excessive attention to every detail can inhibit inspiration and distract from the purpose of the works. Like the French language, it consists of rules but also of many exceptions. Modern grammars and dictionaries give us complete, firm, infallible answers to all these questions. But things were quite different at the time. Canadian harpsichordist Olivier Fortin has chosen this music for his new release. Olivier Fortin is founder (1996) and director of the Montreal-based early music Ensemble Masques. He is increasingly esteemed as a soloist and chamber musician, touring and recording throughout Europe, the United States and Canada with ensembles such as Ensemble Masques, Capriccio Stravagante, Tafelmusik, Chanticleer, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal and Les Voix Humaines as well as playing with Skip Sempé and Pierre Hantaï in a harpsichord trio.

After the success of its CD devoted to the Sonatas of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Florence Malgoire's ensemble Les Dominos now explores the first French sonatas. All of these works date from the 1680s, the time when the French had just discovered the Italian sonata style and had begun to use it, albeit in some secrecy. This recording contains the complete sonatas of François Couperin, four of which are the original versions of sonatas that Couperin would later make use of in Les Nations. This is the first recording to present the sonatas in their entirety, in particular because the sonata La Convalescente is here recorded for the very first time; this sonata was discovered only recently in a manuscript copy in Germany.