Composer: François Couperin
Performer: Pierre Gallon, Matthieu Boutineau
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMM902725
Release: 2024
Size: 2.37 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Concert Royal No. 1 in G
01. I. Prélude. Gravement
02. II. Allemande. Légèrement
03. III. Sarabande. Mesuré
04. IV. Menuet en trio
05. V. Gavotte
06. VI. Gigue. Légèrement
Concert Royal No. 2 in D
07. I. Prélude. Gracieusement
08. II. Allemande fuguée. Gaiement
09. III. Air tendre
10. IV. Air contrefugué. Vivement
11. V. Échos. Tendrement
Concert Royal No. 3 in A
12. I. Prélude. Lentement
Pièces de clavecin, Book 2, Ordre No. 9
13. Allemande for 2 Harpsichords
Concert Royal No. 3 in A
14. II. Allemande. Légèrement
15. III. Courante
16. IV. Sarabande grave
17. V. Gavotte
18. VI. Musette. Naïvement
19. VII. Chaconne légère
Concert Royal No. 4 in E
20. I. Prélude. Gravement
21. II. Allemande. Légèrement
22. III. Courante française. Galamment
23. IV. Courante à l’italienne. Gaiement
24. V. Sarabande. Très tendrement
25. VI. Rigaudon. Légèrement et marqué
26. VII. Forlane en rondeau. Gaiement
Pierre Gallon and Matthieu Boutineau offer an opportunity to rediscover Couperin’s Concerts Royaux in a version for two harpsichords, a rare combination, yet one of which the composer to the Sun King was especially fond.
Here is an interpretation at once brilliant and moving of these works full of tenderness, gaiety and invention, a veritable stylistic turning point between the twilight of the Grand Siècle and the dawn of the Enlightenment.
François Couperin’s Concerts Royaux were keyboard dance suites from 1714, preceding those of the set known as Les Goûts Réunis. Couperin wrote them for a single keyboard but noted that they could also be performed by a small ensemble, and the many available recordings of the pieces have availed themselves of both options. This one by Pierre Gallon and Matthieu Boutineau, however, is unique; it is for two harpsichords, with a few continuo additions from theorbo and Baroque guitar. The suites are presented as versions for two harpsichords; these are not credited to anyone but have been created by the performers. The reasoning for this, as presented in the booklet, draws from the ideas that Couperin, even if he did not suggest this option, clearly imagined the instrumentation as flexible, that Couperin did suggest a two-harpsichord option for the Apothéoses for chamber ensemble, and that harpsichord works by the composer Gaspard Le Roux were said by the composer to be playable on two harpsichords. These factors do not quite prove the point being made by the performance, and this recording might better be regarded as an elaboration on Couperin’s music. In some pieces, the two players each perform the bass line, distributing the rest of the music between them, and this creates a rich, monumental sound that differs quite a bit from the usual intimate detail one associates with Couperin. The effect is intensified by Harmonia Mundi’s booming church sound environment, which doesn’t correspond with what Couperin imagined, either. It is true that those who want the versions Couperin himself approved have plenty of major recordings to choose from, and this one is genuinely novel. The bottom line is that a bit of sampling will inform listeners as to whether they find the approach convincing or not.