French period keyboardist and conductor Christophe Rousset, best known as the founder and head of Les Talens lyriques, has released a seductive two-CD set of harpsichord pieces by Jacques Duphly (1715-1789).
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
The sceptic might argue that the world doesn’t need a new recording of harpsichord music from an obscure composer.
Duphly didn’t have a prominent post. He died in poverty at the time when the fortepiano had taken over as the home keyboard instrument of choice. He wrote in a gallant style that rolled into the gutter along with aristocrats’ heads after the storming of the Bastille — an event that happened the year he died.
But it doesn’t take long after slipping one of these discs into the player to realise that Duphly had mastered the instrument and the form, even if it was already old-fashioned by the time he wrote his music.
These are gorgeous pieces, very much in the style of François Couperin, right down to the whimsical titles — La Felix, La Tribolet, Les Colombes, etc. As was the custom, Duphly arranged the pieces by key in little suites which he had published between 1744 and 1768 in four books.
Rousset has picked his favourites, arranging them in his own musical bouquets of 63 minutes each.
The most enchanting thing about Rousset’s work is the flexible pacing, which gives each piece so much interest and contour. He now has three decades of experience in making theatre of music, and puts every lesson to use here.
The harpsichord itself is beautiful. It’s a big, 2-manual affair built in 1776 by Christian Kroll and carefully rebuilt over the past 10 years by Marc Ducornet, who moved it into the impossibly ornate Gilded Gallery of the Banque de France building (pictured above) in Paris for this 2011 recording.
You can find more details on this album here.
Here is a piece from the first CD, Rondeau la Pothouin from Duphly’s fourth book, that shows off Rousset’s flexibility as well as the wide dynamic range of this particular harpsichord:
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
