French Baroque Music

[prémont]

I've been listening to Louis Couperin's F minor Pavanne. I heard

Moroney
Jane Chapman
Leonhardt (Alpha)
Leonhardt (DHM)
Skip Sempe
Asperen (EMI)
Richard Egarr
Rousset
Charivari Agreable
Kenneth Gilbert

Are there any others?

Yes, Wilson (Naxos) and Ogg (Globe).
Van Asperen has not yet recorded it in his ongoing Aeolus set.

BTW:  f-sharp minor pavane, not f-minor!

[Drasko]

Also, Blandine Verlet (Astree), and there might be a recording by Noëlle Spieth, she recorded two discs of Louis Couperin for Accord but I don't know if they include the Pavanne.

[prémont]

Also, Blandine Verlet (Astree), and there might be a recording by Noëlle Spieth, she recorded two discs of Louis Couperin for Accord but I don't know if they include the Pavanne.

Noelle Spieth's recording (2CD Accord) does not include the pavane.

I did not know the Verlet, my fault.

[Mandryka]

Also, Blandine Verlet (Astree)

Ah yes I listened to that, but I forgot to write it up. My notes say I found it unnatural and contrived, full of voicings and hesitations which I didn't understand or appreciate. I'll go back to it in a few months I think.

[Jo498]

While I found some mentions of the composer Michel Corrette, I did not find anything specific about the 6? organ concertos. Any comments and/or recommendations?

[Mandryka]

Yes, Wilson (Naxos) and Ogg (Globe).
Van Asperen has not yet recorded it in his ongoing Aeolus set.

BTW:  f-sharp minor pavane, not f-minor!

Cheers, and Brigitte Haudebourg, who's not to be sneezed at (I know her through her Dandrieu, and just found her Louis C. She specialises in later music as far as I can see, and I think she's bringing that sensibility to the performance (a sort of naive joy.) The Ruckers she uses is fabulous.)

[prémont]

Cheers, and Brigitte Haudebourg, who's not to be sneezed at (I know her through her Dandrieu, and just found her Louis C. She specialises in later music as far as I can see, and I think she's bringing that sensibility to the performance (a sort of naive joy.) The Ruckers she uses is fabulous.)

Yes, I got her somewhat older L.C. recording two months ago and listened to it then, but forgot about the pavane.

[Que]

New issue reviewed by Johan van Veen:

[asin]B01CPQM1ZI[/asin]

"Let us hope that more from Madin's oeuvre will appear on CD. For the time being we should enjoy this splendid disc."

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Alpha_963.html

Q

[Peter Power Pop]

New issue reviewed by Johan van Veen:

[asin]B01CPQM1ZI[/asin]

"Let us hope that more from Madin's oeuvre will appear on CD. For the time being we should enjoy this splendid disc."

http://www.musica-dei-donum.org/cd_reviews/Alpha_963.html

Q

https://www.youtube.com/v/zcasEmykEhQ

[bioluminescentsquid]

I've been listening to Louis Couperin's F minor Pavanne. I heard

Moroney
Jane Chapman
Leonhardt (Alpha)
Leonhardt (DHM)
Skip Sempe
Asperen (EMI)
Richard Egarr
Rousset
Charivari Agreable
Kenneth Gilbert

Are there any others?

Rousset plays it like an aria from a tragic opera, there were times when he made time stand still.

Leonhardt (DHM) is like a long meditation on deep and abstract things.

Jane Chapman and Kenneth Gilbert both play it in a rather matter of fact way. They reminded me of Gulda's Beethoven.

Asperen (EMI) is mesmeric because he projects a sense of someone very intensely determined to get to the bottom of the music. Did he record it a second time?

Leonhardt (Alpha) is nonchalant and he plays with a great sense of swing. Colourful and full of amazing textures and voicings.

Richard Egarr made me appreciate the contrapuntal ingenuity of the music.

Moroney pounds his way through the music gracelessly.

By this time I'd had quite enough of the music for one day, so Skip Sempe may have been under-appreciated.

Charivari Agreable  have transposed  it for a little band of viols .

This might have been from a while ago, but I've just gone on a similar romp through all the recordings of this pavan.
Some general impressions of this pavan - If Tombeau de Blancrocher is about bittersweet comfort and coming-to-terms in the face of death, and hope (but not without doubt) for better times, the Pavan is the utter opposite. It's dark and philosophical, indecisive and restless, with a sense of intense compassion to suffering, but also deep despair in the human condition (whatever that means).

Well, with that in mind...

Glenn Wilson (Naxos) - He starts the piece like a great orator, florid and noble. The playing is dignified and grandiose, but doesn't lose a sense of intimacy, like someone talking to you on personal terms. It's with a great sense of direction, but is very nicely paced. "Stoic" (as in Stoicism) is another word that comes to mind. I'll say that it's like reading Montaigne and learning how he comes to terms with his own mortality in his essay "To philosophize is to learn to die." Harpsichord sounds like a Ruckers-type - decadent, rubbery, but not without some "dryness," recorded somewhat far away

Moroney - Just like Mandryka says, it's quite a Brutalist-architecture type of recording. Not much humanity, just grandiose crash-crash. The probably fine, but tubby sounding harpsichord (Probably a non-Ruckers 18th century French - someone tell me) doesn't really help either. But later on the recording, some nuances and light-and-dark - even some charming ornaments - appear. Not as bad as what Mandryka thinks of it, but it definitely won't be anywhere near my shelves.

Brosse (Le clavecin au siecle des Louis XIV) - Tinny, metallic sounding harpsichord sort of spoils the recording. But if we can look past that, there's quite a cool sense of inégale to the playing. Still, it's too matter-of-fact for my taste, and sometimes tends to get a bit listless.

Ogg ("L. Couperin/ D'Anglebert Harpsichord works") - A nicely twangy 17th-century French harpsichord (or probably a copy of), but too remote of a recording for me. Not bad playing but it's still rather lackluster and a bit too shallow for my likes.

Leonhardt (alpha) - Seems like a 17th-century harpsichord, but thankfully it sounds more like a cross between a Ruckers and Grimaldi than a twangy mess. Intensely personal - no blinding epiphanies here, just someone at the end of their life (just like Leonhardt here) humbly relating to you their hopes and disappointments.

Leonhardt (DHM) - A Ruckers (if I remember correctly, it's the Ruckers in Castle Velen which Leonhardt made his extraordinary Froberger on.) that is nicely captured. I really like this recording, just because it's quiet, reserved, and deeply meditative, just like a 17th-century man brooding over a mememto-mori - not sad, happy, or anything, just deep in thought. The major part comes a quite a comfort and almost like a foil to the minor (which it probably is) here - the descending notes are like some dawning realization.

Verlet (Couperin vol. 2) - Hmmm... I don't know. It's the Colmar Ruckers again, gloriously recorded although rather close-sounding. The playing is gentle and lyrical, just typical of Verlet's style, and the cute meantone tuning allows for some delicious dissonances. But I'll have to agree that there's something missing here - and I can't put a finger down on what.

Stewart (vernay label) - The cover proudly declares that this is recording on a 1681 Tibaut harpsichord made in Toulouse, and it sounds quite marvelous - pearly, lean, even a bit (but not too) twangy. I think the playing reminds me of Leonhardt on alpha - unpretentious, not too emotional, but graceful and beautiful. I'll have to listen to it more times in order to say more, though...

Rousset - Twangy, dry sounding harpsichord - usually, the sound might sound distracting, but here it fits the pathos of the piece perfectly. The decay of the harpsichord makes it almost sound like it's weeping: I love the moment, around 50 seconds into the piece, where everything suddenly stops and two C's just cry out de profundis. It's hesitant and despairing, without any promise of comfort or salvation. This is the Shakespeare (probably most specifically Hamlet) of the interpretations - it constantly asks "Whither shall we fly from this reproach?" or "To be or not to be?"

Egarr - Again, a lean-sounding 17th century French harpsichord, although not as twangy as Rousset's and with an organ-like sustaining power. Quite a theatrical sort of grief - doesn't mean that it has to be un-genuine or shallow, just that it's quite grandiose and showman-like.

... to be continued

[bioluminescentsquid]

Hayashi ("Ascents of soul") - A plucky sounding harpsichord, probably a late 17th century French one. Meditative, thinking, inquiring, not really sorrowful (which is ok). Has a nice sense of rhythm. But lacks a sense of humble magnificence, I guess. Still, rather nice.

Sempe - A soft-spoken Ruckers. Actually reminds me quite a lot of van Asperen, but rather more hesitant and delicate. Humble, beautiful, full of humanistic compassion, like a father whose arms you cry into when you're sad. I can't say much more, but this recording is just lovely in a special way.

van Asperen - I'll admit, this was one of my my absolute favorite recordings, but it just tasted sorta bland after Sempe. Still, while not delicate as Sempe, it's still powerful, moving, and profound. van Asperen has a queer way of phrasing of little pauses that remind me of how some people speak which I really like. I love how everything just opens up in the middle section here.

So, in the manner of blind comparisons, here are them from least favorite to favorite.
Ogg+Brosse+Moroney (hard to rank the least-likes)
Verlet
Hayashi
Egarr
Stewart
(I would gladly own anything after this)
Leonhardt (Alpha)
Leonhardt (DHM)
Rousset
van Asperen
Wilson
Sempe

[Jo498]

I got Anton Heiller's (rather short 47 min, it probably was just one LP) Rameau disk some time ago but in the last few weeks it has become one of my favorites. The instrument might not be a historic one but except for a few tracks it sounds very nice to me (especiall the lute stops?) and the playing is quite infectious. I orderered and will hopefully receive soon his Couperin disc:

[asin]B0000257WO[/asin] [asin]B0000257WQ[/asin]

What are other great French harpsichord recitals out there? I have two discs each with Couperin on Naive (Verlet and Cochard), another with with Baumont (Erato/Warner). For Rameau the Heiller, one with Baumont and one with Rannou (in the Zigzag anniversary) and probably a few more in boxes or mixed recitals.

[Que]

A mixed French harpsichord  recital? 

This set by Davitt Moroney with music from the Borel manuscript is absolutely awesome (exclamation mark...):

[asin]B001IYB5JC[/asin]
Q

[Drasko]

Can't think of that many mixed French harpsichord recitals. Leonhardt's Couperin family recital on Philips and Skip Sempe's A French Collection on Paradizo first come to mind. Also Staier's ...pour passeur la melancolie even though it's not all French.

Some of my favorite non-mixed French harpsichord recordings

Leonhardt's Francois Couperin on DHM
Leonhardt's Louis Couperin on DHM
Sempe's Chambonnieres on DHM
Scott Ross complete Francois Couperin on STIL
Scott Ross complete Rameau on STIL
Leonhardt's Forqueray on Sony
Rousset's complete Louis Couperin on Aparte
Bertrand Cuiller's complete Rameau on Mirare
Rousset's Royer on Ambroisie
Blandine Rannou's complete Rameau on ZigZag
Christie/Fuller Armand Louis Couperin on HM

[HIPster]

A mixed French harpsichord  recital? 

This set by Davitt Moroney with music from the Borel manuscript is absolutely awesome (exclamation mark...):

[asin]B001IYB5JC[/asin]
Q

Noted.  Thanks! 

[Jo498]

I only wrote that I am not aware of everything I might already have in artist-centered discs (e.g. the more recent Leonhardt Couperin that was collected in the "Decca" box) and with recitals I meant that I don't want "all of Couperin" or so. I do not especially want discs with more than one composer. But the Moroney recital looks certainly interesting.

Two weeks ago or so I thought about the "alpha" discs by Frisch and Rannou. They are at the same price (re-issue?) so Rannou is the better deal, only I have one of her Rameau discs already... But two discs cannot be "complete", can it?

[Que]

I only wrote that I am not aware of everything I might already have in artist-centered discs (e.g. the more recent Leonhardt Couperin that was collected in the "Decca" box) and with recitals I meant that I don't want "all of Couperin" or so. I do not especially want discs with more than one composer. But the Moroney recital looks certainly interesting.

I see.... 

Two weeks ago or so I thought about the "alpha" discs by Frisch and Rannou. They are at the same price (re-issue?) so Rannou is the better deal, only I have one of her Rameau discs already... But two discs cannot be "complete", can it?

This was the complete 4CD set:

[asin]B00005BCWZ[/asin]
Q

[Que]

My own French harpsichord short list, hopefully of any help:

D'Anglebert - Rousset (Decca) (Céline Frisch on Aplha is also very nice)
Champion de Chambonnières - Baumont  (AS Musique)
Louis Couperin - Rousset (Aparté)
François Couperin - Rousset (Harmonia Mundi, OOP) (Love to hear Scott Ross on STIL, which is also OOP)
Dandrieu - Baumont  (Accord)
Dieupart - Grémy-Chaulliac (Pierre Vérany)
Forqueray - Rousset (Decca)
Rameau - Rousset (Decca) or Rannou (Zig Zag)
Royer - Rousset (Ambroisie)
Marchand/Clérambault - Moroney (Plectra)

Q

[Mandryka]

My own French harpsichord shirt list, hopefully of any help:

D'Anglebert - Rousset (Decca) (Céline Frisch on Aplha is also very nice)
Champion de Chambonnières - Moroney  (AS Musique)
Louis Couperin - Rousset (Aparté)
François Couperin - Rousset (Harmonia Mundi, OOP) (Love to hear Scott Ross on STIL, which is also OOP)
Dandrieu - Baumont  (Accord)
Dieupart - Grémy-Chaulliac (Pierre Vérany)
Forqueray - Rousset (Decca)
Rameau - Rousset (Decca) or Rannou (Zig Zag)
Royer - Rousset (Ambroisie)
Marchand/Clérambault - Moroney (Plectra)

Q

Scott Ross's FC is not as good as his Rameau.

[Que]

Scott Ross's FC is not as good as his Rameau.

Good to know! 

Q