Couperin Family Harpsichord Works

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Composer or Director: François Couperin, Louis Couperin, Armand-Louis Couperin

Magazine Review Date: 7/1988

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 62

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 420 939-2PH

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Harpsichord Works II, Movement: ~	Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord Louis Couperin, Composer
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 1 in C	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 2 in D minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 3 in G minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 4 in F	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 5 in A	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 6 in B minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 7 in B flat	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 8 in E minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 15th Ordre (A minor-major)	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Intrépide	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Rondeau	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Arlequine	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord

Composer or Director: François Couperin, Louis Couperin, Armand-Louis Couperin

Magazine Review Date: 7/1988

Media Format: Vinyl

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 420 939-1PH

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Harpsichord Works II, Movement: ~	Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord Louis Couperin, Composer
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 1 in C	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 2 in D minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 3 in G minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 4 in F	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 5 in A	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 6 in B minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 7 in B flat	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 8 in E minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 15th Ordre (A minor-major)	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Intrépide	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Rondeau	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Arlequine	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord

Composer or Director: François Couperin, Louis Couperin, Armand-Louis Couperin

Magazine Review Date: 7/1988

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 420 939-4PH

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Harpsichord Works II, Movement: ~	Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord Louis Couperin, Composer
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 1 in C	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 2 in D minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 3 in G minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 4 in F	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 5 in A	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 6 in B minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 7 in B flat	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 8 in E minor	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 15th Ordre (A minor-major)	François Couperin, Composer François Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Intrépide	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
Rondeau	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord
(L') Arlequine	Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Armand-Louis Couperin, Composer Gustav Leonhardt, Harpsichord

Author:

Gustav Leonhardt's playing has always symbolized what is most admirable about authentic period performance; technical precision wielded with musical conviction and a good knowledge of his sources. Inevitably, there has been a certain sobriety about it—partly associated with his Netherlandish heritage, partly the result of the mantle he has borne with such integrity. Now he has arrived at a stage in his career when he feels able to shrug off what are, in a refined sense, limitations and to play with a newfound freedom and delight: the music fairly sparkles under his fingers on this new recording of pieces by members of the Couperin family.
Leonhardt's performances of Louis Couperin's works have long been particularly admired, and here he does not disappoint. He seems to relish the expressive opportunities afforded by the Prelude and in the lyrical Allemande conveys a precious element of nostalgia hidden within the dance. The first Courante conjures up vivid images of dancers, so physical are his perfectly timed lifts, reminding us that when Louis Couperin was composing, dancing was still very much a live tradition, practised by all courtiers, not just the professionals at the Opera. From the first statement of the concluding Chaconne (as admirable for its craftsmanship and inspiration as Couperin's unmeasured Prelude) the listener is drawn willingly into its inexorable ebb and flow.
The complete preludes from Francois Couperin's L'art de toucher—a rarity indeed—present a full array of the gestures associated with the introduction to a suite. Here, as in No. 3, the Prelude itself almost dances; there, as in No. 8, Couperin alludes to the repeating patterns of a passecaille or a chaconne, elsewhere, as in Nos. 1 and 7, he writes out what his uncle would have left halfnotated, expecting the player to convey it—as Leonhardt does so brilliantly—in an improvisatory style. The minor-key preludes range in their emotional intensity (No. 1 is pensive, No. 2 is truly poignant), while those in major keys project the external world (there is, for example, an almost rustic effect created by the interior pedal notes in No. 5).
Though Francois Couperin's Ordre 15 has been recorded before, this is a performance to treasure for the sublime calm of Le Dodo, the delightfully effervescent articulation of L'evaporee and the elegance of La Princesse de Chabeiul. Leonhardt concludes this Couperin family album with three richly textured pieces by Armand-Louis, contrasting cheerful forthrightness in L'intrepide, with its analogue the rondeau that follows—and concluding with the cheeky Arlequine. All in all, quite a revelation, reaffirming Leonhardt's place at the heart of the early-music performance movement.'

Couperin Family Harpsichord Works

Harpsichord Works II, Movement: ~

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 1 in C

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 2 in D minor

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 3 in G minor

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 4 in F

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 5 in A

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 6 in B minor

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 7 in B flat

(L') Art de toucher le clavecin, Movement: Prelude No. 8 in E minor

Livres de clavecin, Book 3, Movement: 15th Ordre (A minor-major)

(L') Intrépide

Rondeau

(L') Arlequine