When François Couperin published his Mass for the Convents in 1690, he had just turned 20, yet he had created the most exceptional collection of organ music to be written during the reign of Louis XIV. On the magnificent and historic Great Organ of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, over which Couperin presided from 1693 to 1730, the celebrated organist of Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier Latry, performs a sumptuous version of this Organ Mass which, in a world premiere, is interlaced with captivating Chants sur le Livre, those sublime holy improvisations unique to French baroque music... for a moment of eternity.

A common genre on the piano since Franz Schubert, there are far fewer impromptus for the harp than one might think. Sarah O'Brien, longtime principal harpist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and the Munich Philharmonic, presents here a compendium of all impromptus for harp. She has collected both well-known works and surprising rarities, which she supplements with 20th-century compositions and spices up with a few 18th-century gems that are also ideally suited as arrangements for her instrument.

Francois Couperin was one of the finest French Baroque composers and keyboardists. In fact, he was known as “Couperin the Great” to distinguish him from the rest of his talented Couperin family. This release features some of Couperin’s finest works, including Huitieme Concert “Dans le gout Theatral,” and “Les Ondes.” All works on this recording are performed on period instruments by the acclaimed Aulos Ensemble.

Classical Music

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