French Baroque Music

[Drasko]

Does anyone have an opinion/preference for any of the available recordings of Francois Couperin's Pieces de Violes. Savall on Astree is out of print, but there are at least five available recordings out there:

Philippe Pierlot on Mirare

Nima Ben David on Alpha

Mieneke van der Velden on Channel Classics

Lorenz Duftschmid on Pan

Markku Luolajan-Mikkola on Avie

Any thoughts?

[sTisTi]

Does anyone have an opinion/preference for any of the available recordings of Francois Couperin's Pieces de Violes. Savall on Astree is out of print, but there are at least five available recordings out there:

Philippe Pierlot on Mirare

Nima Ben David on Alpha

Mieneke van der Velden on Channel Classics

Lorenz Duftschmid on Pan

Markku Luolajan-Mikkola on Avie

Any thoughts?

I asked myself the same question a few months ago and ended up with Nima Ben David on Alpha. I listened to lots of samples on Amazon and jpc and found the harpsichord continuo too intrusive on some of the other CDs you mentioned (can't remember on which, sorry), sometimes drowning the Viola da Gamba. Nima Ben David's players employ the theorbe and baroque guitar instead of the harpsichord in some movements and I found that preferable.

[Drasko]

I asked myself the same question a few months ago and ended up with Nima Ben David on Alpha. I listened to lots of samples on Amazon and jpc and found the harpsichord continuo too intrusive on some of the other CDs you mentioned (can't remember on which, sorry), sometimes drowning the Viola da Gamba. Nima Ben David's players employ the theorbe and baroque guitar instead of the harpsichord in some movements and I found that preferable.

Très interesting, thanks! I just spent some time on jpc.de comparing clips (before reading your post) and came to similar conclusion.
Didn't like the sound of Finn's instrument, van der Velden is the one I thought drowning in sound of harpsichord. Kuijken on Accent seems fine but somewhat business-like and under inflected.
The ones I liked were Duftschmid, bit heavy, nicely shaped with particularly dark sounding gamba, but availability and full price pretty much rules it out.
So my choice will be probably between Pierlot (touch fast, but mostly very fine) and Ben David whose phrasing I really liked, especially that opening of Allemande legere, only thing about which I'm not sure about Ben David is I felt she is bit too bouncy, her rhythms seem very sprung in what is predominantly melancholic music, but that is difficult to judge from short clips. Anyhow, I too am leaning toward Ben David.

[Drasko]

One of the discs can be streamed here (for about a week I think):

http://www.radio4.nl/page/plaatpaal

[Que]

A French composer new to me! François D'Agincour (1684-1758) was a pupil of Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue, who was also François Couperin's teacher, and of Jacques Boyvin. D'Agincour in his turn taught one of the last French harpsichord composers, Jacques Duphly. This listing of the composers of the French harpsichord tradition might be helpfull. Hervé Niquet laments in the booklets the neglect for D'Agincour's music, being pigeon holed in musical history as conservative and an insignificant transitional figure. Niquet finds D'Agincour's music of great quality and indeed sees innovations, be it more subtle and perhaps less apparent, despite the adherence to tradition. I'm inclined to agree with Niquet: D'Agincour write in a traditional frames but innovates by ways of added virtuosic elaborations, rhythmic diversity and a more lightweight forward flow in the music. This is music of excellent quality, too good to be overlooked.



This disc with pièces d'orgue actually contains a French organ mass - organ pieces alternated with plainchant - after the model created by Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, founding father of the French organ tradition. Most of the used plainchant is by Nivers himself, next to some of later anonymous origin and the plainchant for the Offertoire is by Jean-François Dandrieu. The organ pieces are delightfully crisp and virtuosic with a light touch, played on the magnificent organ of the church in Seurre, built in 1699 by Tribuot. Superb, nuanced and articulate playing by Niquet. Loads of character in the instrument, and beautifully recorded. The plainchant is sung absolutely ravishingly by Les Dames de Saint-Jean.

Full marks for this recording - must-have if you are into the genre of the French organ mass! A review on Classicstoday (10/10).




D'Agincour was François Couperin's junior by 16 years and a openly declared admirer. The music of D'Agincour's first three ordres and an excerpt of his 4th as recorded here, do indeed breath the spirit of Le Grand. Not as enigmatic as his great example, and original, one might add, in a more fleet, lightweight and virtuosic style. An impression which might be emphasized by Niquet harpsichord playing, which quite reminds of Christophe Rousset's ways. Some might find things rushed a bit. In some pieces the galant style of contemporary Rameau et al clearly comes through, especially in the instances where guitare accompaniment is added - a very nice refreshing touch.

Perhaps not indispensable but very enjoyable. In the booklet a future recording by Niquet of the 4th Ordre is announced.

Q

[Coopmv]

A French composer new to me! François D'Agincour (1684-1758) was a pupil of Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue, who was also François Couperin's teacher, and of Jacques Boyvin. D'Agincour in his turn taught one of the last French harpsichord composers, Jacques Duphly. This listing of the composers of the French harpsichord tradition might be helpfull. Hervé Niquet laments in the booklets the neglect for D'Agincour's music, being pigeon holed in musical history as conservative and an insignificant transitional figure. Niquet finds D'Agincour's music of great quality and indeed sees innovations, be it more subtle and perhaps less apparent, despite the adherence to tradition. I'm inclined to agree with Niquet: D'Agincour write in a traditional frames but innovates by ways of added virtuosic elaborations, rhythmic diversity and a more lightweight forward flow in the music. This is music of excellent quality, too good to be overlooked.



This disc with pièces d'orgue actually contains a French organ mass - organ pieces alternated with plainchant - after the model created by Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, founding father of the French organ tradition. Most of the used plainchant is by Nivers himself, next to some of later anonymous origin and the plainchant for the Offertoire is by Jean-François Dandrieu. The organ pieces are delightfully crisp and virtuosic with a light touch, played on the magnificent organ of the church in Seurre, built in 1699 by Tribuot. Superb, nuanced and articulate playing by Niquet. Loads of character in the instrument, and beautifully recorded. The plainchant is sung absolutely ravishingly by Les Dames de Saint-Jean.

Full marks for this recording - must-have if you are into the genre of the French organ mass! A review on Classicstoday (10/10).



http://www.youtube.com/v/E6ZwGntPOQw

D'Agincour was François Couperin's junior by 16 years and a openly declared admirer. The music of D'Agincour's first three ordres and an excerpt of his 4th as recorded here, do indeed breath the spirit of Le Grand. Not as enigmatic as his great example, and original, one might add, in a more fleet, lightweight and virtuosic style. An impression which might be emphasized by Niquet harpsichord playing, which quite reminds of Christophe Rousset's ways. Some might find things rushed a bit. In some pieces the galant style of contemporary Rameau et al clearly comes through, especially in the instances where guitare accompaniment is added - a very nice refreshing touch.

Perhaps not indispensable but very enjoyable. In the booklet a future recording by Niquet of the 4th Ordre is announced.

Q

Q,  Thanks for posting your recommendation.  I have been eyeing these CD's since I last saw them in the Glossa catalog but they have not gone up high on my priority list yet.  I believe they may be available at BRO at great discount ...   

[SonicMan46]

Q,  Thanks for posting your recommendation.  I have been eyeing these CD's since I last saw them in the Glossa catalog but they have not gone up high on my priority list yet.  I believe they may be available at BRO at great discount ...   

Stuart - Yep, I have a small order from BRO in the mail which includes the disc below - $8 only; believe that there was another one by the same computer, so assume the other one shown by Q - Dave 

[Coopmv]

Stuart - Yep, I have a small order from BRO in the mail which includes the disc below - $8 only; believe that there was another one by the same computer, so assume the other one shown by Q - Dave 

Yeah, there are still so many interesting recordings on my shopping list which are not available from BRO.  For now, I need to whittle down that list before I turn my attention to BRO and I am getting there ...   

[Opus106]

Need... more... Duphly!

I have just spent a wonderful time with the disc containing "masterpieces of French harpsichord music," played by Gustav Leonhardt, containing music by Rameau, Royer, Le Roux and Duphly. (CD No. 9 in the 80th Anniversary box.) It was not the first time I listened to the disc; however, during the last hour I was smitten with the music, especially those by Royer and Duphly. Let anyone who thinks Baroque repertoire is only good for being wallpaper music listen to these pieces, which are filled with more than mere twanging of the harpsichord. I think I'll be listening to this disc like I do to Schubert's impromptus.

[Antoine Marchand]

Need... more... Duphly!

Warmly recommended:



Some samples HERE.

I would also recommend the American harpsichordist Katherine Roberts Perl (Dorian), but her disc is almost unfindable. 

BTW, talking about Roberts Perl, did you listen to her superb Bach on MAGNATUNE? You can listen to on-line every disc of their catalogue. 

[Opus106]

Muchly* appreciated.    I have also noted that the harpsichordist Mitzi Meyerson, who has been praised quite a few times in the forum in the past few weeks for her recording of Böhm's works, has recorded the works of Duphly on MDG.




*Cato, if you're reading this, don't take it seriously.

[Que]

[...]however, during the last hour I was smitten with the music, especially those by Royer and Duphly.

Great, another French harpsichord music fan! 

For a smashing Royer recital, turn to Rousset - it will blow your socks off!  

[asin]B0013E4CLU[/asin]
Q

[Opus106]

Thanks, Que. [Spinning some Louis Couperin, right now.]

[Drasko]

You could also try Skip Sempe's A French Collection. It's very good cross-section of French post Rameau harpsichord music: Duphly, Balbastre, Royer, Armand-Louis Couperin. There are few videos of him playing that repertoire on youtube (from DVD I think). He is fantastic player but one thing to note is that his tempi tend to be faster than most.


http://www.paradizo.org/?page=catalog&disc=7&task=program

[Opus106]

That is one disc that pops up in almost every search I do for this repertoire, for obvious reasons. Thanks for the rec., Drasko; Don (Bulldog) had good things to say about it as well.

[George]

Good Afternoon! :wave:

This is the only Couperin on my shelf. I hadn't heard it yet and decided to put it on. As with everything else in this box, the music, performance and sound are superb! I forget who recommended this to me (and at a cheap price to boot), but I am grateful they did.

[SonicMan46]

 

This was a recent amazing bargain at jpc, the special offer was unfortunately shortlived...

Since this is my first recording of this music, little did I know why the cover only says "Forqueray", no surname. These are adaptations by Jean-Baptiste Forqueray of viol music by his father, Antoine Forqueray. Here is the story, quoted from "La folia" (reviews the set by Blandine Rannou).

There's a fascinating story behind these Forqueray Pièces. The father, "the world's greatest viol player," so feared his son's abilities that he had him imprisoned and briefly exiled! Two years after le Père's death, le Fils published a handful of his father's pieces scored for viol and continuo and a parallel collection arranged for clavecin alone. Forqueray Jr. slipped in a few of his own and though we know which ones, stylistically the generations are indistinguishable. Typical of the day, many honor colleagues: La Rameau, La Forqueray, La Couperin, La Leclair, La Laborde, La du Breüil, La Marella, etc., whereas other titles remain obscure. Betraying their viol origins, these pièces de clavecin hug the harpsichord's tenor region, the high tones of the Second suite's Italianate La Leclair a sparkling exception.

This is interesting music, sounding nicely dark - probably due to use of the lower register - and unconventional, wayward. As far as I can judge from this one recording, the music suits Le Gaillard's steady, robust, appropriately "digging" approach. This is also a first for me as far as Le Gaillard is concerned: a good, solid harpsichordist, who seems to play it "as it is". Reminds me a bit of the style of Noelle Spieth, though more (also figuratively  ) masculine.

Le Gallaird plays no less than three harpsichords: a Goujon-Swanen, a Ruckers-Taskin and a Ruckers-Dubois. Although the recording from 1982 lacks the sonic "bloom" of harpsichord recordings from the late '90s onwards, it's very nice: rich but not too spacious.

I'm curious what Blandine Rannou (Zig Zag) and Christophe Rousset (Decca) make of this music! Any comments? (Some comments seem to suggest that Rousset went over the top a bit on that issue - see HERE)

A BLAST from the PAST! I've recently acquired the Rannou 2-CD set (added above, right), and also own the other posted by Q, believe both purchased cheaply from BRO - recording dates are respectively, 1982 & 2007; Rannou is playing on a copy of a Ruckers harpsichord - now listening to just the first disc and am enjoying her interpretations (Q had already give excellent background information in his post) - like the sound of this instrument; I've not listened to the other recording recently so cannot make any comparative statements at the moment; BUT, not sure that I need 2 recordings of these works and will probably keep the Zig-Zag production - have recently become enamored w/ this label.

However, I would be curious in this time interval, if anyone may have heard both of these performances and have any comments?  I tried to search for a review of Rannou but came up w/ nothing - BUT the night is late & I'm working early in the morning - 

[Drasko]

However, I would be curious in this time interval, if anyone may have heard both of these performances and have any comments?  I tried to search for a review of Rannou but came up w/ nothing - BUT the night is late & I'm working early in the morning - 

Shouldn't really comment, haven't heard either, but here is a review of Rannou (in French) and it's pretty much a rave. Other than that it mentions that Rannou did some tweaking of her own to the transcriptions.

http://www.musebaroque.fr/Critiques/forqueray_rannou.htm

Could probably venture a guess, after hearing Rannou play Forqueray live, and hearing her in some other stuff that playing is probably languid, broad paced and beautiful.
Don't know anything about Le Gaillard.

[SonicMan46]

Shouldn't really comment, haven't heard either, but here is a review of Rannou (in French) and it's pretty much a rave. Other than that it mentions that Rannou did some tweaking of her own to the transcriptions.

http://www.musebaroque.fr/Critiques/forqueray_rannou.htm

Could probably venture a guess, after hearing Rannou play Forqueray live, and hearing her in some other stuff that playing is probably languid, broad paced and beautiful.   Don't know anything about Le Gaillard.

Hi Milos - yes, I found that review, and although I cannot read French fluently, could pick out some words and ! marks that implied a GOOD review; the first disc was excellent (and I do own some other CDs w/ her, also great!) - I'll do a little comparison listening this weekend but will likely keep Rannou - Dave 

[SonicMan46]

Chambonnieres, Jacques Champion de (1601/2-1672) - 'father' of 17th century harpsichord music, according to references that I've read - probably close to the truth.  Well, I now own the 3 recordings shown below, do I need all of them?  All are quite good and several are still available from BRO for bargain prices!  So, pertinent to this thread, I'd (and likely others) might be interested in member opinions of these various interpretations?  Thanks all -