Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (1601/2-1672) is generally regarded as the founder of the French harpsichord school. There have been a few fine anthologies of his works on CD, including those from Françoise Lengellé, Karen Flint and, best of them all I believe, a fabulous disc by Skip Sempé. However, this present two-CD set from Olivier Baumont is the first to bring us all the music from the composer's two Livres de Pièces de Clavessin, together with a generous helping of his manuscript pieces. And it adds up to a fabulous collection of works.
Poulenc’s remarkable comic opera ‘The Breasts of Tiresias’ was written during the darkest days of the German occupation of France. The premiere, at the Opera Comique was a great success, and given this was in 1947, it must have provided a much needed tonic for the war weary Parisians.
French harpsichordist Olivier Baumont has distinguished himself as a performer and scholar, specializing in French Baroque repertoire. He took up the harpsichord without learning piano first, sharing his family's love for French history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He studied with Kenneth Gilbert and Huguette Dreyfus and worked with Gustav Leonhardt in his master classes in Cologne.
Le temps est une «chose» introuvable dont l'existence ne fait aucun doute. Une «chose» dont tout le monde parle mais que personne n'a jamais vue. Nous voyons, entendons, touchons, goûtons dans le temps, mais non le temps lui-même. Contre toute attente, Chronos est un planqué, un caméléon qu'il faut débusquer sous nos habitudes de langage et de perception. Pour le déjouer, il va falloir l'effeuiller peu à peu, le déshabiller, le distinguer de ses effets les plus sensibles : la durée, la mémoire, le mouvement, le devenir, la vitesse, la répétition…