French Harpsichord Music

The remarkable French harpsichordist Christophe Rousset tackles Rameau’s relatively unknown instrumental transcription of his popular opéra-ballet, Les Indes Galantes.
Christophe Rousset plays Rameau’s instrumental transcription of Les Indes Galantes on the stunning 18th century Jean-Henry Hemsch harpsichord. Public disapproval to the premiere of the opéra-ballet led to Rameau not only omitting the recitatives and its controversial passages, but to transcribing the whole work for instruments. He re-grouped the remaining pieces according to their keys into what he called ‘quatre grands concerts’ or concert suites.

In addition to including three harpsichord concertos composed in the 20th century, this CD offers suggestive interweavings: The concertos by Falla and Poulenc were both composed for Wanda Landowska (1879-1959), the great Polish harpsichordist who decisively contributed to the rediscovery of much 17th- and 18th-century music and to the renaissance of the harpsichord, not only as an ancient instrument, but also as a source of inspiration for 20th-century musicians. Poulenc’s Concert champêtre is the immediate heir of Falla’s Concerto. Accordingly, in the orchestral score of Poulenc’s Concert belonging to Falla, we can read the following autograph dedication by the French composer: “For you, my dear Falla, the little brother of your so magnificent Concerto. Fr. Poulenc”. The three concertos share a neoclassical aesthetic, albeit from different approaches: in his Concerto Falla explores and uses the ancient sources of Hispanic music; Poulenc evokes the French Baroque; and Bacarisse adopts stylistic elements typical of the neoclassicism of the 1920s.

Johann Mattheson - 12 Suites for Harpsichord - Gilbert Rowland (2017) {Athene ATH 23301 Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (chandos.net) -> 1.16 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 411 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2017 Athene / Gilbert Rowland / Divine Art | ATH 23301
Classical / German Baroque / Harpsichord

Following the fine critical praise for his pioneering recording of the complete Harpsichord Suites of G.F. Handel, Gilbert Rowland moves to the lesser known but equally inspired Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) who composed these suites in 1714. Although generally following the then current Dance Suite format used so much by Bach, Handel and others, Mattheson created variety with different dances (such as the Tocatine) and varying numbers of movements. Certainly very musical and original, these Suites deserve to be considered on a level with those of Handel at the very least. Masterful performances by Gilbert Rowland who plays a 2-manual French-style instruments by Andrew Wooderson (2005) after an original from 1750 by Goemans.

Sophie Yates began her career by winning the international Erwin Bodky Competition at the Boston Early Music Festival, and as a result she was invited to tour and broadcast throughout the eastern states of America. She now performs regularly around Europe, the United States and Japan, and has also worked in Syria, Morocco and Western Australia. Known for her affinity with the French baroque, the music of the Iberian Peninsula and English virginals music, she has performed on most of the playable virginals surviving in Britain and is working on a long-term project to collect a book of contemporary English pieces for this instrument.

The music of Louis Couperin has never had quite the celebrity of that of his uncle François or of the other famous French keyboard composers of the eighteenth century. The harpsichord works here date from around 1650. They were thus contemporary with reign Mazarin, the courtier and prime minister who really ruled France, at least until the rebellion known as the Fronde curbed the power of the court. The lush booklet does an excellent job of placing Couperin against his cultural background, and really the disc is worth purchasing for the lavish illustrations of the period French harpsichord used (the small picture of the Greek god Pan above the keyboard is reproduced at full size inside, and it's fabulous).

Italian Concerto, BWV 971 : Among the best known of Bach’s solo harpsichord works, the Concerto each Italienischen Gusto was published in 1735, as the first half of the second volume of the Clavier-Übung (with the French Overture as the second half).