King Couperin

Couperin’s Trois Leçons de Ténèbres are amongst the small amount of the composer’s sacred music that was published during his lifetime. They are intensely personal, depicting the prophet Jeremiah’s bitter anguish in settings that are quite unique. Also included here are Couperin’s joyful motets Laetentur caeli and Venite, exsultemus Domino, and a remarkable Magnificat.

If Italy has Frescobaldi and Germany has Froberger, France has Louis Couperin. The name Louis Couperin has now moved beyond the shadow of François Couperin and has become synonymous with the 17th-century French clavesin school. It contains the essence of the clavesin art of the era of Louis XIV, the Sun King, including the barless preludes that enjoy a floating freedom, the grandiose chaconne and pavane, and the moving funeral for Monsieur Blancross.

Alexei Lubimov is a Russian pianist who also plays fortepiano and harpsichord. In his early years he studied at the Moscow Central Music School, and in 1963, entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus and Lew Naumov. He developed a strong interest in Baroque music and 20th century modernist works. Lubimov gave the Soviet premieres of many western compositions, including pieces by Charles Ives, Arnold Schoenberg, John Cage, Terry Riley, Pierre Boulez, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, which brought censorship from the Soviet authorities. For a number of years he was prevented from traveling outside the Soviet Union. Turning to his interest in period instruments and authentic performance practices, he founded the Moscow Baroque Quartet and co-founded the Moscow Chamber Academy with Tatiana Grindenko.

Like many of England's finest musicians, Andrew Lawrence-King began his career in choir school, serving as head chorister for the Cathedral and Parish Church of St. Peter Port, Guernsey. He took an organ scholarship to Cambridge University, where he read mathematics, but finished his studies in organ and voice at the London Early Music Centre. A party at a harpmaker's house gave the opportunity for Lawrence-King to own his first early harp, modeled after a Medieval Irish instrument.

The Sun King’s Mass was without doubt one of the privileged rites for the standing glory of the sovereign, as much because of its splendour, as for its ceremonial aspect, which brings time to a halt, solidifying the eternal image of royal power. The greatest composers of the kingdom distinguished themselves by making the holy service a veritable heavenly concert. The bell rang, the fifes and drums announced the arrival of the king in the gallery, the organ burst forth, the Grands Motets by Lully and Delalande enthralled under the golden vaults, the delicate and intimate petits motets by Couperin appear with grace in the alcoves of the Royal Chapel…

If the cherished corpus of Pièces de Violes by François Couperin Le Grand, the celebrated organist of the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, constitutes a major contribution to the viol repertoire in France at the beginning of the 18th century, this unique volume published in Paris in 1728 is also shrouded in mystery for any musician who might wish to immerse himself in these sumptuous pieces. Might they have been composed for an exceptional performer, Marin Marais or Antoine Forqueray, Couperin's colleagues at the Court of Louis XIV? Arranged in two suites of splendid pieces, blending Italian and French styles, they represent all the spirit and finesse of the music of the King's Chamber at its apogee.

If Italy has Frescobaldi and Germany has Froberger, France has Louis Couperin. The name Louis Couperin has now moved beyond the shadow of François Couperin and has become synonymous with the 17th-century French clavesin school. It contains the essence of the clavesin art of the era of Louis XIV, the Sun King, including the barless preludes that enjoy a floating freedom, the grandiose chaconne and pavane, and the moving funeral for Monsieur Blancross.