This new disc of harpsichord pieces by the uncle of Francois Couperin Le grand may well suit readers who felt that Davitt Moroney's complete edition on four discs (Harmonia Mundi, 4/90) is rather too much of a good thing. I did not altogether get along with Bob van Asperen's earlier disc of harpsichord ordres by Francois Couperin (EMI, 11/90—nla), finding his playing a shade aggressive and lacking in warmth. This Louis Couperin recital strikes me as considerably more successful. There is still that somewhat con- frontational tendency in van Asperen's playing, a tension which does not always enable the music to speak freely with the gentle inflexions that are so much part and parcel of this idiom; but the interpretations are lively and full of character, capturing something of the robust nature of many of the dances as well as an air of nobility.
The movements that fare best, perhaps, are the Chaconnes, of which there are three, and a couple of Passacailles in van Asperen's programme. These are without exception finely constructed pieces whose strength and pervasive melancholy are to me among their many irresistible features. Van Asperen also includes a number of other pieces choisies, among them the beautifully sustained ''Tombeau de Monsieur de Blancrocher''— Couperin's deeply-felt tribute to the great lutenist who fell downstairs after imbibing a skinful, and the harmonically bold Pavanne in F sharp minor. Both these pieces, incidentally, have been recorded by Blandine Verlet on the same Ruckers harpsichord in the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar in France and provide interesting points of comparison (Astree Auvidis (CD) E7781, 7/91 and E7782). Generally speaking I prefer van Asperen's playing of the more darkly coloured movements—his account of the elegiac Sarabande from the F major group of pieces is a case in point—to Verlet's simpler view of the music, but equally he does justice to lighter pieces such as the vivacious Branle de Basque where his ornamentation is more securely in place than in Verlet's otherwise admirable version.
In summary this is an attractively assembled programme, played stylishly and conveying greater affection for the music than I have felt with one or two of van Asperen's recent releases; and in this instance I particularly enjoyed the recorded sound of an especially fine instrument.'