Re: Armand Louis Couperin: Selected Works For Keyboard: Music For Solo Keyboard Instruments Download Pdf

[Thomas]

Diderot's musical references to the current repertoire of the music lesson corroborate Madame de Genlis's naming of performers and instruments at her 1767 salon. Solo keyboard sonatas are evidently a large part of this repertoire, for the solo sonata is the genre of Alberti and Eckard. Accompanied sonatas, concertos, and other ensemble music for keyboard with accompanying instruments are also important, although at the lesson and even at some performances the keyboardist evidently foregoes the accompanying instruments. Diderot's mention of Bemetzrieder's apparently solo performance of a "concerto" was quoted earlier. Similarly at one of her lessons Angélique plays "a concerto by Müthel"23 but no string players are present to accompany her. At another lesson the teacher, Bemetzrieder, plays Schobert's Sonate en symphonie, Op. 9, No.3, in F major but he plays only the keyboard part without its accompaniment of violin and two horns.24

Armand Louis Couperin: Selected Works for Keyboard: Music for Solo Keyboard Instruments download pdf

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Dr.Bradley LehmanDayton, Virginia
b...@umich.eduReviews written for American Record Guide On average, I write twelve reviews per issue of American Record Guide.I cannot reproduce the full texts of the reviews here, as those are the property of the journal. Here are the review headers and some excerpted sentences, to make it easy to find my reviews in the printed version.Enjoy the music!Sep/Oct 2015The King's Men:Fasch, Nichelmann, CPE Bach
Jermaine Sprosse, hpsi, fp
Klanglogo (Rondeau) 1505--64 minutesThis is spectacularly good. Young keyboardist Jermaine Sprosse plays sonatas and variations by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), and sonatas by two of his colleagues: Christoph Nichelmann (1717-1762) and Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800). (...)CHAMBONNIERES: Harpsichord Pieces 1
Karen Flint
Plectra 21501 [2CD] 151 minutes(...) The present volume 1 has the 60 published pieces, out of about 150 that survive. Chambonnieres had them engraved in 1670, the first harpsichord music by anyone to be preserved in that manner. The remaining volume 2, which will be a three-disc set, is already recorded and in process. That will give us all the rest of the manuscript pieces. (...)DIEUPART: Harpsichord Suites
Fernando Miguel Jaloto
Brilliant 95026 [2CD] 102 minutesCharles Dieupart (c1667-c1740) was a French harpsichordist and violinist who spent much of his career teaching and performing in England. (...) The young Johann Sebastian Bach liked these suites enough to make himself a handwritten copy of them, perhaps coming from his brief time of study with Georg Bohm. (...)HANDEL: Harpsichord Suites, vol 3
Gilbert Rowland
Divine Art 21225 [2CD] 130 minutesHandel's published Eight Great Suites of 1720 are well-known. There is another rather sloppy volume from 1733, The Second Collection, with eight more suites and a few individual pieces. Gilbert Rowland's set here, "volume 3" of a now-complete cycle of three 2CD packages, stays mostly outside that core. (...)Pleasures of the Harpsichord
Anonymous, Byrd, Sweelinck, Purcell, Frescobaldi, Scarlatti, Louis Couperin, Philidor, Francois Couperin, Daquin, Corrette, Rameau, Bach, Handel, Mozart
Olivier Baumont, hpsi
Bayard Musique 308430--50 minutesThis is a disc to promote tourism to the 16th-century Chambord castle, south of Paris, and a showcase for four harpsichords built 1994-2006 by Reinhard von Nagel. During harpsichordist Olivier Baumont's three-month residency at this castle, von Nagel and a recording team brought in these instruments to take advantage of the way they sound in the castle's acoustics. (...)Claviorganum
Thomas Schmogner
Paladino Music (Naxos) 0033--56 minutesThis is a co-publication by the Kunst Historisches Museum of Vienna (khm.at), to demonstrate what they claim to be the only playable "claviorgan" from the 18th century. (...) The most interesting piece to me is the Military Sonata by Ferdinand Kauer, with musical gestures to take us scene by scene through a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire, 1787. The fantasias by Mozart, CPE Bach, and Joseph Preindl are engaging enough, with frequently-changing registrations. Preindl's piece is based on several themes from The Creation by Haydn. Schmogner adds tasteful ornamentation to Mozart's Adagio for Ben Franklin's glass harmonica. There are three aimless Beethoven pieces that sound like counterpoint exercises, and three others by his teacher, Albrechtsberger. (...)Nov/Dec 2015BACH: Preludes, Fugues, Fantasias, Suites, Capriccio
Aapo Hakkinen, hpsi
Naxos 573087--79 minutesFinnish harpsichordist Aapo Hakkinen gives us a generous recital of less-familiar music by Bach: the suites BWV 818, 819, and 832, the E-major capriccio 993, fantasias 917, 918, and 922, and an assortment of short preludes and fugues. (...)Along with Hakkinen's imaginative playing, a selling point here is the famous instrument. It was Igor Kipnis's "Big Red" harpsichord by Rutkowski and Robinette, 1970. (...)BIRD: The Oriental Miscellany (Airs of Hindustan)
Jane Chapman, hpsi
Signum 415--74 minutesThis is a major find, unexpected and charming, "perhaps the first work of East-West fusion", as the notes assert. William Hamilton Bird (c1750-c1804) spent many years in India, studying the music by Hindustani singers. He then transcribed their music as simple harpsichord solos for the young ladies of the British aristocracy, adding a left-hand part. (...)DUPHLY: Harpsichord Pieces
Aya Hamada
LiveNotes 7784 (CDBaby)--72 minutes
646-431-3762This is a terrific solo debut by a young Japanese-American harpsichordist trained at Juilliard and in France. (...)Another draw here for harpsichord enthusiasts is the instrument: the "Lefebvre 1755" that Martin Skowroneck built in the 1980s for Gustav Leonhardt, in its first recording since Leonhardt's death. (...)MUTHEL: Harpsichord Concertos
Marcin Swiatkiewicz, Arte dei Suonatori
BIS 2179 [2CD] 127 minutesThis premiere is like finding five more harpsichord concertos by CPE Bach. (...)PLATTI: 7 Sonatas
Elaine Funaro, hpsi, fp
Wildboar 9901--77 minutes
888-BWV-1079This release of seven sonatas, selected from the extant 18 by Giovanni Benedetto Platti (1697-1763), is not new. Elaine Funaro recorded this in 1997 (fortepiano) and 1998 (harpsichord), engineered by Christopher Greenleaf and issued in 1999 by Wildboar. (...)SMITH: Harpsichord Lessons; HANDEL: Richard I Overture
Julian Perkins, hpsi
Chandos 807--78 minutesJohn Christopher Smith (1712-1795) was one of Handel's composition assistants near the end of his life. This set of "Six Lessons" is his Opus 3, published in 1755, and Julian Perkins gives it its premiere recording here, from sessions in 2011. (...)Jan/Feb 2016BACH: Partitas 1, 2, 6
Edna Stern, p
Orchid Classics 100050--71 minutesEdna Stern has a terrific resume with great teachers, and she is an energetic musician with plenty of ideas. She produces an attractive piano tone, and makes the fingerwork sound easy. Her performance of Bach's music here is disappointing, though. (...)SOLER: 120 Sonatas
Barbara Harbach, hpsi
MSR Classics 1300 [14CD] 1042 minutes (17 hours, 22 minutes)(...) In the present attractively-packaged set of CDs, we get all 120 of Soler's sonatas that were collected in Samuel Rubio's edition from 1957 forward, but no Fandango. (...)This is singularly inexpressive harpsichord-playing, a refusal to use the techniques that build a colorful touch. (...)I hear no magic here, not even a card trick. It's a convenient way to have all this music in a small and well-produced package, plus a decent analytical essay by Harbach, if that's what you want for your $100. BACH: Goldberg Variations
Lars Vogt, p
Ondine 1273--77 minutesThis is a bland and plain-spoken performance of Bach's set of 30 Goldberg Variations, staying far away from the edges of the beaten path. (...)Mersenne's Clavichord: 16th & 17th Century France
Terence Charlston
Divine Art 25134--69 minutes(...) Terence Charlston's performance is miraculous, with everything perfectly in place, and yet not sounding cautious. This is top-level work.There are no extant French clavichords of this vintage, so builder Peter Bavington worked from a 1636 drawing by Marin Mersenne to build one. Charlston chose (and, in some cases, arranged) this brilliant program to show what would have been played on it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The result is one of the best clavichord albums I have ever heard. (...)Cembalo Cantabile: Bach, Fiocco, Rameau, Scarlatti
Tatjana Vorobjova, hpsi
Amati 2602--61 minutes(...) This is a general-interest recital of early 18th century music. True to the title of the album, "Cembalo cantabile", Vorobjova plays the harpsichord with a singing tone. (...)En Sol: for the Sun King
Rebecca Maurer, hpsi
Genuin 15352--71 minutesThe composers here are d'Anglebert, both Couperins, Jacquet de la Guerre, le Roux, and Royer. The album notes describe king Louis XIV as dancer and supreme warmonger, dressed as the sun or Apollo, and the ways in which his interests influenced the music written for his court. Harpsichordist Rebecca Maurer has assembled this program to follow the formal layout of a ballet de cour. 21 of the pieces here are in G minor.... (...)CIMAROSA: 88 sonatas
David Boldrini, fp
Brilliant 95027 [2CD] 148 minutesThese are the complete extant keyboard works of Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), primarily a composer for the stage. 88 sonatas fit into a two-disc set? Yes, they are very short, and David Boldrini skips all the repeats. 82 sonatas are for piano, and the remaining six are for harpsichord, but all are played here on fortepiano. (...)Mar/Apr 2016RAMEAU: Harpsichord Pieces
Blandine Rannou
Alpha/OutHere 309 [2CD] 138 minutesThe complete set of Rameau's harpsichord music was Blandine Rannou's first solo recording, made in the summer of 2000 and issued as Zig Zag Territories 10301, a 4-CD set. The solo music occupied the first three discs, and the ensemble version of "Pieces de clavecin en concerts" was on the fourth. The present set by Alpha is a budget-priced reissue of only discs 2 and 3 of that. (...) 20th Century Harpsichord: Poulenc, Francaix, Martinu, Durey
Christopher D Lewis, hpsi
Naxos 573364--60:05Christopher D Lewis is a specialist in modern harpsichord repertoire, and a researcher into the instrument's use in pop music. This is his second recording for Naxos. (...)BACH: Preludes & Fugues
Rinaldo Alessandrini, hpsi
Naive 30564--70:33The program collects some stray bits from Bach's workshop, having 15 assorted preludes paired with 15 assorted fugues. Most are short and simple, except for the grander B minor pair at the end of the program: S 923 and 951, which is one of the two fugues by Bach on the same theme by Albinoni. (...)GAGNON: 4 Seasons; Les Turluteries Suites 1+2
Jean-Willy Kunz, hpsi; Orchestre symphonique de la Vallee-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent, Daniel Constantineau
Atma 2715--65:17(...) Andre Gagnon (b1936) in his thirties capitalized on Joshua Rifkin's "Baroque Beatles Book" fad of 1965, weaving popular tunes into fake-Baroque music; Gagnon's music was for the French-speaking market in Quebec. The "Turluteries" suites 1 and 2, from 1972, are obviously based on Bach's last two orchestral suites. Gagnon incorporated tunes of the Quebecois singer Mary Travers "La Bolduc" from the 1930s. "My Four Seasons" from 1969 are little three-movement concertos built on 1960s pop tunes by four other Quebecois singers. (...) FRESCOBALDI: Keyboard Pieces 1
Rinaldo Alessandrini, hpsi and organ
Arcana/OutHere 388 [2CD] 146 minutesGirolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) first published this book of keyboard music in 1615, and reissued it with an appendix of many additional pieces in 1637. His brilliant music is a cornerstone of the keyboard repertoire, and it has inspired many generations of composers and players. (...) The recording is from April and September 1992, when Alessandrini was only 32. This appears to be its fourth issue, beginning in 1993. (...)May/Jun 2016Because of distribution delays from the CD supplier, messing up the production cycle, my six reviews submitted for this issue were all deferred to the Jul/Aug issue.Jul/Aug 2016BACH: Violin Sonatas
Erich Hobarth, v; Aapo Hakkinen, hpsi
Aeolus 10236 [2CD] 120 minutesBeyond the expected set of six sonatas, S 1014-19, this hybrid SACD recording includes the three probably-later sonatas S 1021-23. Overall, the easily-flowing interpretations offer few surprises. (...)BACH: Chorales & Chorale Preludes
Anna Christiane Neumann & Anja Kleinmichel, p
Genuin 15375--69:33Those seeking a devotional record will find this a beautiful and undisturbing one. "Bach Without Words" is arranged mostly as piano solos, and five of them are for piano four hands. Before most of the chorale preludes, Neumann plays a simpler four-voiced version from the Bach/Riemenschneider collection of 371 chorales. There are more than a dozen arrangers here beyond Busoni, showing the richness of this genre where ensemble music and organ solos have been adapted to the piano. (...)BYRD: Harpsichord Pieces
Colin Tilney
Music and Arts 1288--62:33This "Contrapuntal Byrd" program gives an enjoyable hour of some of William Byrd's longest pieces. About half of the selections are from "My Ladye Nevell's Booke". (...) All the music evokes a serene world different from our own, and is well worth spending meditative time in. (...)BACH: Well-Tempered Clavier I
Celine Frisch, hpsi
Alpha 221 [2CD] 103 minutesI appreciate that this is very well done, but I don't fancy the results. It's a supremely difficult composition that sounds easy for Celine Frisch. Her Apollonian performance is perfectly polished, which is impressive in her technique and thoroughness, but it makes the music sound less interesting. (...)DUPHLY: Harpsichord Pieces
Yves-G Prefontaine
Atma 2716 [2CD] 148 minutesPrefontaine plays a personal selection of about half of Duphly's music, shuffling the four books together and grouping the pieces by key. His playing sounds ordinary. It is clean and there is flexibility to the phrasing, better than being metronomically stiff, but it doesn't bring much special or memorable to the pieces.(...)ANGLEBERT: Harpsichord Pieces
Charlotte Mattax Moersch
Centaur 3455--79:14This would be a suitably captivating place to start for those who do not know this composer. Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629-91) was one of the harpsichord superstars of 17th century France. (...) Charlotte Mattax Moersch gives a fine sense of air and space to her delivery. Everything is fit perfectly into place, flowing naturally, without ever seeming too fast or slow. (...)BACH: Goldberg Variations
Erich Traxler, hpsi
Paladino 0073--77 minutesThe graphic design of the package is not very attractive, but the music is. Erich Traxler, an Austrian harpsichord professor aged 33 at the time, gives an interpretation that is mostly hard-edged and on the exciting side, instead of going for restfulness.(...)TELEMANN: 6 Overtures
Anke Denner, hpsi
Genuin 16411--64 minutesAnke Dennert plays these six three-movement Ouvertures on the well-known and much-copied 1728 Christian Zell harpsichord. (...)Telemann published these keyboard solo pieces in 1745, but they have not attracted much attention. They are in his imitation French/Italian/Polish blended style. (...)Gaul Me Maybe: French Baroque
Daniel Schlosberg, p
Centaur 3477--51 minutesHalf the program is a remarkably good performance of Bach's French Ouverture, S 831. The rest is an assortment of short French Baroque pieces by d'Anglebert, Royer, Marais and Rameau, played with Schlosberg's compelling musical insight but infected by miscalculations. (...)Fitzwilliam Virginal Book 4
Pieter-Jan Belder, hpsi
Brilliant 95254 [2CD] 133 minutesBelder's project of recording the entire Fitzwilliam Virginal Book started in 2010. This volume 4 is up to his reliably high standard. (...)Belder's sweep through this music is impressive, and so is his meticulous fingerwork at the smallest levels. Something I always appreciate in Belder's musicianship is the way he makes every phrase sound confident and inevitable.(...)British Harpsichord
Christopher D Lewis
Naxos 8.573668--71 minutesChristopher Lewis's Naxos series of modern harpsichord music continues. (...)The obvious selling point here is "Howells' Clavichord" by Herbert Howells, filling a niche with music not otherwise available on harpsichord. (...)The music by Lennox Berkeley, Gavin Bryars and John Jeffreys is played on the same Pleyel harpsichord that Lewis used on the French/Martinu album. (...)The pieces by Jeffreys and Berkeley are charming and witty neoclassical trifles.BACH: 2-4 Harpsichord Concertos; Triple Concerto, S 1044
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Trevor Pinnock, Marieke Spaans, Marcus Mohlin, hpsi; Concerto Copenhagen
CPO 777681 [2CD] 106 minutes(...) This is so good that I'd recommend it to friends who don't have any other recordings of the pieces, for the joy of the music played energetically.Concerto Copenhagen ("CoCo") and the harpsichordists make everything sound natural and vital, with moderate tempos and no eccentricities. (...)BACH: Well-Tempered Clavier I
Christophe Rousset, hpsi
Aparte Music (Harmonia Mundi) 120 [2CD] 125 minutesOver a month of listening to this, I haven't found enough to enjoy. The main problem is that the harpsichord's tone is harsh and lacks bloom.(...)Rousset's interpretation is mostly moderate and straightforward, without much emphasis of detail. (...)ROMAN: Keyboard Sonatas 7-12; AGRELL: Sonata 2
Anna Paradiso, hpsi and clavichord
BIS 2135 (SACD)--77 minutesThe packaging makes this look humdrum, but that first impression was wrong. This is keyboard musicianship so superlative that I stopped the player after 20 minutes and immediately placed an order for the other volume. It's that attractive and expressive. Anna Paradiso obviously listens very closely to her instruments as she plays them, and this makes her interpretations vivid. She makes the music sound freshly improvised by a creative genius.(...)Masterworks & Miniatures: Renaissance Venice
Richard Lester, org and hpsi
Nimbus 5931--78 minutesThe music is by Willaert, Buus, Padovano, Merulo, Guami, and both Gabrielis: ricercars, canzonas, toccatas and intonations. (...) I admire this album for the way it presents plenty of rarely-played music. This is a didactic package worth having, for those interested in this repertory. (...)GALUPPI: 6 Harpsichord Sonatas, op 1
Andrea Chezzi, hpsi
Brilliant 95253--54 minutesBaldassare Galuppi was a theater man known for his operas and oratorios. He wrote these keyboard sonatas in the 1750s when he was in his mid-40s. There are six sonatas here, plus a bonus single-movement sonata in G not belonging to this opus. (...)The compositions are pleasant, not very challenging to listen to or to play. They could be mistaken for Telemann's music. (...)Journey
Trevor Pinnock, hpsi
Linn 570 (SACD)--68 minutesTrevor Pinnock at age 70 takes a "Journey" through 200 years of harpsichord music. (...)The Scarlatti sonatas here are outstandingly good. (...)The Handel Chaconne in G and "The King's Hunt" by Bull also catch him at his best, as if the music is being conducted with big gestures for a theater full of enthusiasts. (...)PICCO: Original Sin
Cesare Picco, clavichord; Sezione Aurea Baroque String Quintet
Ishtar 35--40 minutesThe disc is mastered very loudly. The Baroque string quintet sounds harsh, except at low volume. Within that, the clavichord sounds abnormally loud in the mix. The string parts are mostly ostinatos, not melodically interesting. Composer Cesare Picco noodles ornamental lines and punctuating chords on his clavichord, on a Wurlitzer electronic piano, or sometimes both at the same time.(...)BACH: Violin Sonatas
Leila Schayegh, v; Jorg Halubek, hpsi
Glossa 923507 [2CD] 95 minutesSchayegh and Halubek have been playing these sonatas together for ten years, and it shows. This is like a championship figure-skating routine. Their fluent gestures challenge the laws of gravity. (...)This is a must-hear album. Some might not fancy the amount of freedom in the improvisations, but it sounds essential to me, the way they have integrated all this. (...)Sep/Oct 2016MOZART: Piano Sonatas 1-6
Roberto Prosseda, p
Decca 4812632 [2CD] 117 minutesIt's the cycle of Mozart's first six piano sonatas, written in his late teens. (...) If Roberto Prosseda continues what he's started here, I want to hear him play all the rest of Mozart's sonatas. Prosseda adds ornamentation, extends some passagework for extra bars, changes figuration or melodic shapes, and interpolates short cadenzas. (...)BACH: Inventions & Sinfonias
Thomas Ragossnig, hpsi
Solo Musica 236--52 minutesBach's Inventions and Sinfonias, otherwise known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are staples of keyboard and compositional pedagogy. Bach intended them as such, preparing them as a textbook for his children and his Leipzig pupils. (...) Ragossnig plays them on harpsichord, but recordings are available on every other keyboard instrument and in arrangements for strings, winds, guitars, and more. (...)The novelty here is that Ragossnig has re-sequenced all thirty pieces, instead of going upward chromatically twice, as we usually hear it from Bach's last versions. (...)SCARLATTI: Sonatas, vol 4
Pierre Hantai, hpsi
Mirare 285--76 minutesIt's music to bring a smile and tapping toes. Hantai plays 17 sonatas here: Kirkpatrick numbers 212, 247, 144, 133, 204a, 279, 533, 405, 402, 403, 381, 208, 456, 457, 302, 201, and 45. (...)Hantai's performance manner keeps tempos basically steady, filling the space with small expressive nuances on top of a "hot" touch where he plays the notes very short. It makes the music sound energetic.(...)ALBERO: Recercatas; Fugues; Sonatas
Alejandro Casal, hpsi
Brilliant 95187 [2CD] 109 minutesAlejandro Casal deserves admiration for learning and presenting this fourth-rate music by Sebastian de Albero (1722-56), as few other keyboard players are likely to spend much time on it. The recercatas are meandering single-line pieces without much for the left hand to do. The sonatas have some crunchy cluster harmonies like those of Soler and Scarlatti. (...)Varietas
Jean-Christophe Dijoux, hpsi
Genuin 16420--82 minutesHarpsichordist Dijoux won the 2014 International Bach Competition. I haven't heard the playing of his rivals from that contest, but it's easy to hear in this debut album why his artistry earned a prize. Dijoux has tremendous control of time, both in his phrasing and in the subtle art of not playing the notes together. His expressivity is impressive, too. He keeps the music interesting and makes it his own. (...)CLERAMBAULT & MARCHAND: Harpsichord Pieces
Yago Mahugo
Brilliant 94790--77 minutesThis pairing of French Baroque composers is an apt choice, fitting neatly onto a single CD. All of their other harpsichord music is lost, leaving only these few suites by each from 1699-1704 and a few isolated pieces. It's a pity, because these compositions that did survive are very satisfying to play and to listen to, near the top of the French harpsichord repertoire. (...)BACH, CPE: Variations
Andrea Coen, fp
Brilliant 95305 [2CD] 146 minutesOn paper, this is a good bargain at Brilliant's low prices. It's not a treasure, though. CPE Bach was a phenomenally creative composer, but he wasn't at his best in these pieces. It sometimes sounds more like finger exercises than music. (...) Coen gives fluent and reliable performances where few surprises occur. It sounds like a valiant effort in a lost cause. (...)ZIPOLI: Keyboard Pieces
Carlo Guandalino, org; Laura Farabollini, hpsi
Brilliant 95212 [2CD] 148 minutesDomenico Zipoli (1688-1726), after studying in Bologna and Rome, published his thin volume of organ music in 1715. He then became a Jesuit missionary, and was set to become a priest, but he died of tuberculosis at age 38 before being ordained. His organ music sounds several generations behind its time, except for using seventh chords and some surprising chromaticism. (...)The second disc, with Zipoli's complete extant harpsichord music, has four suites and two sets of variations. (...)FROBERGER: Harpsichord music, all
Bob van Asperen
Volume 3: Aeolus 10064 [2CD] 97 minutes
Volume 4: Aeolus 10074--75 minutesFroberger was one of the best early-keyboard composers for the intensity of personality he expressed. (...)I had missed the van Asperen series the first time around, as my Froberger shelf already looked full enough. (...) It was an error to have missed van Asperen's through these years, because the performances and the booklets are so good.At hand for this review, volume 3 gives us Suites 7-12, 15, 17 and 21. Volume 4 has Suites 20, 27 and 30, a toccata, and several often-recorded character pieces, plus two newly-discovered suites. (...)Nov/Dec 2016BACH: 6 Trio Sonatas; Passacaglia & Fugue
Anthony Newman, pedal hpsi, org
Soundset 1076--66 minutesThe best thing here is the Passacaglia and Fugue, played on pedal harpsichord. (...)The trio sonatas are a loss, unfortunately. Newman plays the middle movements on pedal harpsichord, but the outer movements on an unidentified organ. This choice is jarring, eccentric, and becomes too predictable. (...)RAMEAU: Harpsichord music, all
Simone Stella
OnClassical 130 [2CD] 155 minutesStella plays with moderate tempos, offering an interpretation that is free of eccentricities, full of delicacy and grace. The overall character is gentle geniality, not aggression. (...)There are production slip-ups, though. The sound is the biggest letdown. (...)Journey around Europe
Richard Lester, hpsi, fp, org; Elizabeth Lester, rec
Nimbus 5939--80 minutesLester plays a general-interest recital, mostly of well-known pieces that are available in dozens of other recordings. The program is mostly sonatas, toccatas, and variations. (...) He has good flair for playing the music of Scarlatti, Seixas, Soler, and Mozart. Some of the other performances sound less imaginative, especially in Bach's D-major Toccata (BWV 912) and Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith" variations. (...)FROBERGER: Keyboard Pieces vol 7: Capriccios
Bob van Asperen, org
Aeolus 10701 [SACD] 79 minutes
Vol 8: Toccatas
Bob van Asperen, hpsi, org
Aeolus 10134--77 minutesI don't have much to add to my enthusiastic review from a few months ago (J/A 2016), where I greeted the reissued volumes 3 and 4 of this terrific series. The new volumes 7 and 8 complete it. (...)In volume 8, van Asperen plays most of the toccatas on harpsichord, but three on organ, and he fits Froberger's two vocal pieces (not toccatas) into the sequence for interesting variety. (...) Turning to volume 7, the music is more arcane. Froberger's capriccios are tougher compositions to listen to than his toccatas. (...)As in the earlier volumes, the scholarship of this Froberger Edition is brilliant and the presentation is deluxe in every way. Bravo to van Asperen and Aeolus for completing this important set over the many years it took!COUPERIN, L: Harpsichord Pieces 3
Bob van Asperen
Aeolus 10124 [SACD] 71 minutesThis is part of van Asperen's complete survey of the music by Louis Couperin (c1626-1661), who was part of a large family of expert musicians. (...) This volume 3 is from 2007, released 2013. The two remaining volumes of the five-disc series are yet to come, with ETA unknown. (...)CLEMENTI: Piano Sonatas 4
Susan Alexander-Max, fp
Naxos 572664 --78 minutesHistory and Mozart have not been kind to Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). His music is little-known, except for the ubiquitous six piano sonatinas of Opus 36 that young children study. (...)There are about 110 sonatas and sonatinas. Vladimir Horowitz and a few others have championed these for revival, but without much traction. (...) Susan Alexander-Max got 19 of them recorded, including the four here in this Naxos volume 4, but she died in January 2016 before the release of this album. (...) Alexander-Max plays all of these with great technique and drive, bringing out expressive nuances as appropriate. (...)Pleasures of the Imagination
Sophie Yates, hpsi
Chaconne 814--75 minutesThis is a genteel program of English music by colleagues and competitors of Purcell and Handel, without involving them. The composers are Blow, Clarke, Croft, Greene, Jones, Arne, and Johann Christian Bach. (...)Everything is well-chosen for variety and to give an overview of the harpsichord in 18th-century England. Sophie Yates plays gracefully on two French-styled double harpsichords, both built and serviced by Andrew Garlick.(...)MOZART: Harpsichord Duets
Basilio Timpanaro & Rossella Policardo
Stradivarius 37045--69 minutes(...)These brilliant musicians play an arrangement of the Fantasy in F Minor, K 608, originally for