Louis Couperin: Complete Works for Harpsichord

简介

The harpsichord music of Louis Couperin (c.1626-1661) occupies a unique place in the glorious flowering of French keyboard music of the baroque era. His short life story is a touching one, marked by strong family bonds, then by the devastation of war, professional success and recognition, before the tragedy of sudden sickness and an early death. He left an indelible mark on musical history in a span of just ten years. His gift for memorable short melodic phrases, declamatory rhythms, surprising harmonies, and luminous textures results in his works often remaining in a hearer’s imagination long after a performance is over. Couperin was about 25 years younger than his benefactor, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (1601/2-1672), who is generally acknowledged to be the fountainhead of the beautiful French way of playing that for over a century dominated European keyboard playing. This “beautiful manner” (belle manière) combined a special keyboard touch with an elaborate system of ornamentation that gave graceful relief and poise to the music. Chambonnières’s playing could be identified by ear alone, even if the listener could not see who was playing. Yet by the end of the seventeenth century Louis Couperin had been recognized as the co-leader of the French school. He was seen as Chambonnières’s equal for expressive touch, ornamentation and invention; indeed, his compositional imagination was praised slightly more. Although the two men clearly had somewhat different techniques, personalities, and approaches to the instrument, each had a personal way of making the harpsichord sound beautiful.

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