François Couperin Pièces de Clavecin
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: François Couperin
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Accent
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ACC9399D
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 6 in B minor |
François Couperin, Composer
François Couperin, Composer Robert Kohnen, Harpsichord |
| Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 13th Ordre (B minor) |
François Couperin, Composer
Barthold Kuijken, Flute François Couperin, Composer Robert Kohnen, Harpsichord |
| Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 14th Ordre (D major-minor) |
François Couperin, Composer
Barthold Kuijken, Flute François Couperin, Composer Robert Kohnen, Harpsichord |
| Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 15th Ordre (A minor-major) |
François Couperin, Composer
Barthold Kuijken, Flute François Couperin, Composer Robert Kohnen, Harpsichord |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Robert Kohnen, long associated with the Kuijken brothers, and a founder member of the Brussels Alarius Ensemble, will be well known to Gramophone readers for the many discs in which he has appeared as a stylish harpsichord continuo player. His solo recitals, however, have been fewer and further between and playing of the kind we hear on this new Couperin disc makes me wonder why.
Kohnen has chosen the first three ordres of Couperin’s Troisieme livre de clavecin which was published in 1722; and he has prefaced his recital with the sixth of eight preludes from Couperin’s didacticL’art de toucher le clavecin which first appeared in 1716. Kohnen’s playing is rhythmically incisive, fastidious in detail – Couperin was hot on that – and full of character. If, on first acquaintance, his realization of Couperin’s vignette “Les lis naissans” (Ordre No. 13) seems a shade spiky then his lyrical approach to the flowing 6/8 melody of the rondeau “Les rozeaux”, which follows, reassures us that Kohnen does have the poetry of the music at heart, and intends that it should be so.
What I do not get on with, however, are Kohnen’s somewhat intrusive and indeed redundant vocal introductions to “Les folies francoises”. To each of these “Dominos”, which take the listener through a miniature kaleidoscope of Couperin’s art, the composer gives a name and, in all but one instance, that of “La virginite”, a colour. This information can be, and is, provided in the booklet so it hardly needs to be reiterated. In a concert recital such snatches of actuality can be effective; on a disc, after repeated listening, they become an unwelcome interruption.
Occasional departures from the norm in the following two ordres are of an altogether more agreeable nature. In “Le rossignol-en-amour” (Ordre No. 14) Kohnen takes Couperin up on his suggestion to use a transverse flute, played here with a beautifully rounded tone by Barthold Kuijken. Likewise, in the jaunty rondeau, “La Julliet”, the trio texture is realized by flute and harpsichord rather than the more usual two-harpsichord texture. This piece is beautifully done, as is the subtly bell-like “Carillon de Cithere” which follows it.
In the Fifteenth Ordre Kohnen gives an evocatively drowsy performance of “Le dodo ou l’amour au berceau”, achieving all the intended contrast between this and the nonchalant “L’evaporee”. The flute makes a final appearance in the two celebrated three-part musettes of Choisi and Taverni. The flute follows the top line, the harpsichord right hand the treble countersubject and the left hand the one-bar motif drone bass in the tonic. Both dances, in a pastoral idiom, are captivatingly performed.
In short, a stylish and entertaining release – apart from the aforementioned spoken prefaces – which is as likely as any to draw the cautious listener into Couperin’s refined, allusory and metaphor-laden idiom.'
Kohnen has chosen the first three ordres of Couperin’s Troisieme livre de clavecin which was published in 1722; and he has prefaced his recital with the sixth of eight preludes from Couperin’s didactic
What I do not get on with, however, are Kohnen’s somewhat intrusive and indeed redundant vocal introductions to “Les folies francoises”. To each of these “Dominos”, which take the listener through a miniature kaleidoscope of Couperin’s art, the composer gives a name and, in all but one instance, that of “La virginite”, a colour. This information can be, and is, provided in the booklet so it hardly needs to be reiterated. In a concert recital such snatches of actuality can be effective; on a disc, after repeated listening, they become an unwelcome interruption.
Occasional departures from the norm in the following two ordres are of an altogether more agreeable nature. In “Le rossignol-en-amour” (Ordre No. 14) Kohnen takes Couperin up on his suggestion to use a transverse flute, played here with a beautifully rounded tone by Barthold Kuijken. Likewise, in the jaunty rondeau, “La Julliet”, the trio texture is realized by flute and harpsichord rather than the more usual two-harpsichord texture. This piece is beautifully done, as is the subtly bell-like “Carillon de Cithere” which follows it.
In the Fifteenth Ordre Kohnen gives an evocatively drowsy performance of “Le dodo ou l’amour au berceau”, achieving all the intended contrast between this and the nonchalant “L’evaporee”. The flute makes a final appearance in the two celebrated three-part musettes of Choisi and Taverni. The flute follows the top line, the harpsichord right hand the treble countersubject and the left hand the one-bar motif drone bass in the tonic. Both dances, in a pastoral idiom, are captivatingly performed.
In short, a stylish and entertaining release – apart from the aforementioned spoken prefaces – which is as likely as any to draw the cautious listener into Couperin’s refined, allusory and metaphor-laden idiom.'
François Couperin Pièces de Clavecin
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