Rameau

Rameau's music has yet to be discovered, several of his operas are still unpublished," says Bruno Procopio. Our initiative is to bring these works to light thanks to the Jeune Orchestre Rameau (Jor). Its mission is also to become a professional integration orchestra, by organizing concerts and tours in addition to the week of the Academy, also to promote the creation of new works, professional training, to offer a platform international network and to make recordings via the Paraty record label, distributed by Pias Harmonia Mundi.

In this new album, William Christie invites us to a wander in the vocal art of the 18th Century, at the time of Rameau and his contemporaries. These musical treasures, as with the famous gardens ‘à la française’, are closely linked to these times of splendour. The soloists come from the Jardin des Voix, the Arts Florissants’ Academy for young singers in which the most promising talents of the upcoming generation had the priviledge to work with the ensemble, before starting a worldwide tour of the most prestigious venues. This recording crowns their work.

Christophe Rousset - Marchand, Rameau (2012) {Ambronay}
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© 2012 Ambronay / Harmonia Mundi | AMY032
Classical / Baroque / Harpsichord / Keyboard

This recording by fine French harpsichordist Christophe Rousset exposes some music from beyond the famous names of the French Baroque. The central attraction is a pair of suites and three characteristic pieces by Louis Marchand, an organist at Versailles who is famous in musical history for having supposedly ducked an organ duel with J.S. Bach. His two suites recorded here were composed in 1702 and 1706, and thus are almost contemporary with the early Rameau Suite in A minor (1706), from his first book of keyboard suites. All the suites consist of a rhythmically free, quasi-improvised prelude followed by a series of stylized dances; three short character pieces by Marchand are also included as a sort of entr'acte.

Rameau on the piano? It's not altogether unheard of – there were a handful of classic recordings made by Robert Casadesus back in 1952 – but, despite many recordings of Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti on the piano in the digital age, there's been precious little Rameau on the piano until this Angela Hewitt recording of three complete suites from 2006. By choosing the Suite in E minor from the Pièces de clavecin of 1731 plus the Suites in G minor and A minor from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin, Hewitt has for the most part stayed away from the more evocatively titled works and stuck to the standard stylized Baroque dance forms of the allemande, courante, and gigue. Justly celebrated for her cool and clean Bach recordings, this strategy works well for Hewitt. Without seeming to resort to the sustain or the mute pedal, she floats Rameau's lines and melodies, and without seeming to exaggerate the accents or dynamics, she gives Rameau's rhythms a wonderful sense of lift. In the deliberately evocative movements from the G minor Suite – "La poule," "Les sauvages," and especially "L'egiptienne" – Hewitt seems to bring less to the music – her interpretations are remarkably straight – and to get less out of it – her performances are remarkably bland.

Jory Vinikour's two discs of the keyboard works of Rameau actually contain more than Rameau himself published, including a barn-burner of a finale. In addition to Rameau's five published suites, Vinikour included Rameau's transcriptions for solo harpsichord of selections from the chamber work Pièces de clavecin en Concert; a couple of pieces published separately from Rameau's collections; a piece ascribed to Rameau; and a transcription by Claude Balbastre – another keyboard wizard of the age – of the overture to Pigmalion.

For his first album as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, 2021 International Chopin Competition winner Bruce Liu – “a pianist with a captivating musical personality” (Financial Times) – has compiled an enthralling survey of 200 years of French keyboard music, from Baroque to modern. The phenomenal young Canadian pianist has subtly adjusted the action of his instrument to highlight the differing musical styles. Gramophone’s reviewer acclaimed DG’s release of Liu’s Warsaw competition performances as “one of the most distinguished Chopin recitals of recent years, full of maturity, character and purpose”. The album’s title Waves alludes not only to the nature theme that runs throughout the programme, but also to the sheer spontaneity of Liu’s music-making.

Like olives, artichokes, and more essentially and problematically, anchovies, Patricia Petibon's voice is an acquired taste. She is a high coloratura (up to E-flat), her technique is formidable, capable of great floridity and very fine breath control, she sings mostly without vibrato, and the tone can be so diamond-brilliant that it can grate, although for darker dramatic moments she can moderate the shine.