Sophie Robert

One of the world's preeminent harpsichordists, Sophie Yates is known for her critically acclaimed performances of Baroque music. Universally praised for her profound understanding of Baroque style, Yates is also admired for her refined touch and discreet virtuosity. Indeed, critics have often lauded Yates for subordinating her enormous virtuosity to stylistic and aesthetic concerns. As a specialist in French Baroque music, Yates masterfully captures the elusive style of French Baroque keyboard performance, perfectly conjuring up the enigmatic atmosphere of distant intimacy heard in pieces by Couperin and Rameau. Commenting on her album French Baroque Harpsichord, critic Robert Haskins admired Yates' subtle renditions of Couperin's music. "In her readings of Les Idées heureuses, she savors the melodic quality of the ornamentation and the stately but fluid rhythms to marvelous effect."

How composers draw their creative lives to a close continues to fascinate. Are their final works the culmination of all that has gone before, or do they suggest what might have come next? Did illness enhance their profundity or diminish their powers? Can we listen to such pieces without thinking of them as some kind of message from beyond? The music featured on this recording each suggest different answers to these questions and challenges some preconceptions.

Sophie Bonnet a enquêté durant cinq ans, rencontré plus de 150 témoins, et s'est longuement entretenue avec Alexandre Despallières. Elle nous dévoile un labyrinthe de crimes et de sexe dans les allées du pouvoir. Un récit haletant dont le suspense est le maître mot.