François Couperin "Le Grand"

[Moonfish]

Ahh, how can Couperin's thread have been silent for more than three years!!!!   

*bump*

I just listened to
Couperin: Keyboard Music 2           Angela Hewitt

I must admit that I am split between listening to the harpsichord and the piano when it comes to Couperin and Rameau. It almost seems as if each instrument brings forward different qualities in the music. The piano weaves a light soundscape with less momentum than the harpsichord. So far I have been quite pleased with Hewitt's recordings of both composers. This volume (released in 2004) certainly provides the dreamlike texture to the music that I now associate with Couperin. It is a pleasant journey with the notes seemingly appearing like raindrops from the sky swirling in their own internal dance.  There is an almost  hypnotic quality to Couperin's music in Hewitt's performance.  Now I just need to tackle Baumont's renditions....

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[Moonfish]

I came across this very interesting article/blog about Couperin's music...   

François Couperin and the French aesthetic sensibilities reflected by their musical language

[Moonfish]

I'm in the same mode - have the Hewitt discs (all 3; great price from the BMG Music Club) - quite enjoyable, but you must take a listen to this music on the piano vs. the harpsichord, and then decide 'for yourself' which instrument is your preference?  I own several harpsichord versions myself and have not been able to make up my mind - on this forum, you're have opinions that may be strongly favoring one or the other keyboard instrument, but again, it will come down to the end - what you enjoy, so just try to hear a number of performances on different instruments & by various performers - I'm still 'up in the air' about my own choice(s) - 

Why not listen to both?      I think that both are rich and rewarding listening experiences, although the harpsichord world requires a bit more attuning as far as I am concerned (but I am getting there..).  I don't think I will ever give up Meyer's or Hewitt's performances of Couperin!

[Moonfish]

I have and like  Christophe Rousset (HM) and Noëlle Spieth (Solstice). Olivier Baumont (Erato/Warner) should probably join them in the top three. I play Spieth the most.

Q

Que,
Do you think Spieth's recording ever will be released on cd?   

[San Antone]

Along with Baumont, who has already been mentioned, I like these ~

Davitt Moroney

Gustav Leonhardt

Andreas Staier has also done some of these very nicely.

[Vinbrulé]

Along with Baumont, who has already been mentioned, I like these ~

Davitt Moroney

Gustav Leonhardt

Andreas Staier has also done some of these very nicely.

Yesterday is arrived to me the Baumont's complete recording of harpsichord music by Fr.Couperin.  I have already done some tastings, the overall impression is good, clear and polished readings, I'd dare to say "a civilized approach" . 
I have taken for comparison with Rousset (HM) and Verlet (Apartè) the nice  Les Lys naissants (III livre) :
Verlet n°1 with her exquisite hesitations here and there - Rousset n°3 for his reading a bit mechanical, metronomic ..... Baumont in the middle    Considering the lengths of the piece as well : Verlet about 3'  -- Baumont about 3'25"  --  Rousset  about 3' 50"
I will go further into this marvellous realm .... but without hurry .
( This is not abstract music , rather its complementary opposite    )

[Jo498]

Andreas Staier has also done some of these very nicely.

I don't think Staier recorded any Francois Couperin. He did one suite of Louis's on a mixed recital disc with Froberger, Fischer, d'Anglebert.

[Mandryka]

Yesterday is arrived to me the Baumont's complete recording of harpsichord music by Fr.Couperin.  I have already done some tastings, the overall impression is good, clear and polished readings, I'd dare to say "a civilized approach" . 
I have taken for comparison with Rousset (HM) and Verlet (Apartè) the nice  Les Lys naissants (III livre) :
Verlet n°1 with her exquisite hesitations here and there - Rousset n°3 for his reading a bit mechanical, metronomic ..... Baumont in the middle    Considering the lengths of the piece as well : Verlet about 3'  -- Baumont about 3'25"  --  Rousset  about 3' 50"
I will go further into this marvellous realm .... but without hurry .
( This is not abstract music , rather its complementary opposite    )

I think Verlet's new Lys is extraordinary -- I'm not much of an FC lover but I like very much this latest recording by Verlet. It maybe takes a lifetime's experience to learn how to uses suspensions, hesitations etc. I've never heard more exquisite rubato.

[king ubu]

Not sure if this is the right place, we don't seem to have a thread on recordings of F. Couperin's music and the split between "composer" and "recordings" is somewhat hard to maintain anyway):



I'm about halfway through the new set by Carole Cerasi, consisting of all four books of harpsichord music by François Couperin, including the Préludes from "L'Art de toucher le clavecin", and I totally like what I hear. Compared to say, the great Couperin discs by Pierre Hantaï (Mirare) or Mitzi Meyerson (Glossa), or to the new set by Bertrand Cuiller (Harmonia Mundi), it sounds almost restrained, controlled, on the very first impression also lacking a bit in sonic richness--but that is deceiving I think by now. Cerasi plays this music with a clarity that is rare, with her the fabric is so finespun, so delicate you indeed get the impression of transparency. At the same time, she is not holding back with regards to filling the pieces with character and with emotion.

There's a customer review on a.com, to which I think I can subscribe at this time (I'm still reading and trying to better understand Couperin and his pieces, and I will also run some comparative listens of select pieces at some point):
https://www.amazon.com/Couperin-Complete-Harpsichord-Carole-Cerasi/dp/B07HB9F4CY#customerReviews

There is also a show on BBC on the set (was it released much earlier in some parts of the world? or were they just really early in presenting it?) - I cannot listen to it, not being from the UK, maybe some kind soul is willing to help me out?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0wrp7

[Que]

Very interesting, thanks for posting! 

Definitely going to do some sampling myself.

It's a great pity that significant recordings by Scott Ross, Noëlle Spieth and Christophe Rousset are presently unavailable....

Q

[king ubu]

Very interesting, thanks for posting! 

Definitely going to do some sampling myself.

It's a great pity that significant recordings by Scott Ross, Noëlle Spieth and Christophe Rousset are presently unavailable....

Q

I'd also be very much interested in the Naïve/Auvidis cycle by Blandine Verlet as well ...

Do you know the cycle by Laurence Boulay that is included on the new cheap Couperin set by Erato/Warner?



If that cycle is worth considering, the entire box would be, I assume (I have the Christie Couperin, have other recordings of "Les Nations", the sonatas and concerts ...)

[Que]

I'd also be very much interested in the Naïve/Auvidis cycle by Blandine Verlet as well ...

Definitely. 

Do you know the cycle by Laurence Boulay that is included on the new cheap Couperin set by Erato/Warner?



If that cycle is worth considering, the entire box would be, I assume (I have the Christie Couperin, have other recordings of "Les Nations", the sonatas and concerts ...)

Haven't heard it. But it's pretty old - recorded in the mid 1970's.

Q

[Moonfish]

Any news on Laurence Boulay's cycle?  Or overall impressions of this Couperin compilation (mentioned above) from Erato?

[San Antone]

Anyone heard this?



François Couperin: Quatrième Livre de Pièces de Clavecin
Guillermo Brachetta

Appears to have been released May 2019.

Acclaimed harpsichordist Guillermo Brachetta returns to Resonus to begin a major recording of the complete Pièces de Clavecin by the French Baroque master, François Couperin, starting with the fourth book of this monumental collection.

Often wistful and valedictory in tone, the fourth and final book of this landmark collection of keyboard music was completed at the very end of Couperin's life and in the grip of failing health. Containing many vivid musical representations of real characters, Couperin's grace and elegance in writing for this instrument is evident to the very end.

For this recording, Brachetta uses a two-manual instrument by Keith Hill (2010) after an instrument by Pascal Taskin from 1769.

[Que]

Anyone heard this?



François Couperin: Quatrième Livre de Pièces de Clavecin
Guillermo Brachetta

Appears to have been released May 2019.

Unfortunately not!
The harpsichordist is new to me BTW.

q

[Mandryka]

Guillermo Brachetta has done a CD of theatrical bravura transcriptions, Rameau and Gaspard le Roux. Que owns it!



There's an element of theatrical bravura to his Couperin too.

[San Antone]

Guillermo Brachetta has done a CD of theatrical bravura transcriptions, Rameau and Gaspard le Roux. Que owns it!



There's an element of theatrical bravura to his Couperin too.

Looks like, the plan is for him to record the entire collection keyboard works by Couperin.

[Que]

Guillermo Brachetta has done a CD of theatrical bravura transcriptions, Rameau and Gaspard le Roux. Que owns it!



There's an element of theatrical bravura to his Couperin too.

Indeed...
A recording I always associate with my countryman Menno van Delft, had no idea who his co-pilot was....

Looks like, the plan is for him to record the entire collection keyboard works by Couperin.

That would be great, as would be a reissue of Rousset.
As to the newcomers, Bertrand Cuiller (HM) seems to me the most promising though I haven't gotten any further than online sampling.

Q

[Hans Holbein]

Complete sets of F. Couperin harpsichord works

Gerlin, Ruggero c.1955 L'Oiseau Lyre
Gilbert, Kenneth 1971 Harmonia Mundi
Boulay, Laurence 1974-1977 Erato
Verlet, Blandine 1976-1980 Astrée
Ross, Scott 1977-1978 Stil
Spieth, Noelle 1990-2003 Solstice
Baumont, Olivier 1991-1994 Erato
Rousset, Christophe 1992-1994 Harmonia Mundi
Klosiewicz, Wladyslaw 1993-1996 Polskie Radio/Dux
Borgstede, Michael 2004-2005 Brilliant
Kroll, Mark 2015-? Centaur (in progress)
Cerasi, Carole 2016-2017 Metronome
Cuiller, Bertrand 2018-? Harmonia Mundi (in progress)

Are any complete sets or sets in progress missing from this list? I've been doing some discographical research out of curiosity. I thought I was at least aware of all the complete sets out there, but I was wrong - today was the first time I learned about the Wladyslaw Klosiewicz recordings. I had also forgotten about Gerlin, though I have seen volumes of his set in used record stores. Not sure when they were recorded - the 1955 date comes from a positive review by Harold Schonberg in the New York Times.

[71 dB]

My Couperin collection

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