{"product_id":"francois-couperin_lecons-de-tenebres-pieces-de-clavecin_2017","title":"Leçons de ténèbres Pièces de clavecin","description":"\"What charming naivety in Couperin's pieces!\" exclaim the moderns. Yet, there is just as much naivety in Couperin's works as there is in Voltaire's tales.\" This striking phrase comes from Wanda Landowska. Her \"moderns,\" in 1909, are still largely ours today. Preconceived ideas resist everything, even a pen as sharp as hers. The sense of proportion, the art of gradation (and ambiguity: where is this Prude trying to go?), the appeal of the pastoral (Les Vergers fleuris, a masterpiece in this genre) are undeniable. These qualities, which link Couperin to the taste of his time, should not obscure the incomparable breadth of his expressive gesture, except for Rameau. On the page, the untrained eye primarily discerns the richness of details, specified in his four Books for harpsichord (1713-1730) with a care far superior to the publications of his contemporaries. However, the ear familiar with the codes of the time and the wonderful instruments that were prized in France (for their impressive sound length and slight nasal quality, conducive to the beautiful diction of the performer) will perceive, in each supposed \"miniature,\" the invention of a genius of the keyboard. All of Europe admired him for this. Couperin was \"the\" harpsichord just as, a century later, Chopin would be \"the\" piano. Naivety in L’Amphibie!? One would think this passacaglia was extracted from a lyrical tragedy where an arrogant troupe dances. And this Garnier, who quietly revels in resonances and basses, half-harpsichord, half-viola da gamba! And these Folies françaises! Twelve colorful trinkets? Rather, in the intimacy of the salon, it is the odyssey of feeling. Its penultimate stage, La Jalousie taciturne, where the nuances of bitterness are captured by a genius colorist, brings us back to Chopin – just like the tender sway of the Dodo (\"or love in the cradle\") preludes the first nocturne. On record, most performers line up the pieces as Couperin published them, in 27 Ordres. Nothing requires them to be grouped this way, and the exercise of arranging them differently is no less \"authentic.\" Couperin: Leçons de ténèbres. Pieces for harpsichord. NO 96 Couperin the essentials of TT: 77'46'' Leçons de ténèbres Ann Monoyios Bernard Coudurier Salomé Haller Martin Gester Juliette Perret Eugénie Warnier Emmanuel Mandrin Pieces for harpsichord Aline Zylberajch 1 Le Dodo or love in the cradle 3'14'' 2 Les Vergers fleuris 2'35'' 3 L’Evaporée 1'38'' 4 La Séduisante 2'58'' Aline Zylberajch (Ruckers\/Taskin harpsichord, 1646\/1780). 5 Première Leçon De Ténèbres 15'18'' Ann Monoyios (soprano), Bernard Coudurier (organ), Anne-Marie Lasla (viola da gamba), Pascal Montheillet (theorbo). 6 L’Amphibie 6'14'' 7 La Divine Babiche 4'32'' 8-19 Les Folies françaises 7'43'' Virginity under the domino the color of invisible Modesty under the domino the color of pink Ardor under the domino crimson Hope under the domino green Fidelity under the domino blue Perseverance under the domino gray linen Languor under the domino violet Coquetry under different dominos The old gallants and the outdated treasures under purple dominos and dead leaves The benevolent cuckoos under yellow dominos The taciturn jealousy under the gray domino of Moor The frenzy or despair under the black domino Aline Zylberajch (harpsichord). 20 Deuxième Leçon De Ténèbres 11'09'' Salomé Haller (soprano), Martin Gester (organ), Guido Balestracci (viola da gamba), Dolores Costoyas (theorbo). 21 La Prude 2'23'' 22 La Muse-Plantine 2'28'' 23 La Garnier 4'05'' 24 La Diligente 2'58'' Aline Zylberajch (harpsichord). 25 Troisième Leçon De Ténèbres 10'20'' Juliette Perret, Eugénie Warnier (sopranos), Emmanuel Mandrin (organ). With the kind editions of Aline Zylberajch, Martin Gester, from the Ambronay and BNL editions picking a dance here, a character piece there, so that one illuminates the other in an unprecedented succession for the listener, is no less \"authentic.\" Aline Zylberajch took this approach in a wonderful album released in 2002, but which has been unavailable since her publisher closed shop. Here it is again, reworked: we have replaced the sonatas that interspersed the harpsichord solos with the three Leçons de ténèbres. This has two advantages: allowing the ear to rest twice from the brilliance of the harpsichord, and avoiding chaining the Leçons as, alas, is always done on record. In 1713, they were punctuated by plainchant responses, a welcome respite between such complex, intense, and dark spiritual tableaux. Let’s also sweep away an image from Epinal. While they respect the old custom of profusely ornamenting the Hebrew letters (Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth...), the three Leçons for Holy Wednesday are, in 1713, a \"cutting-edge\" score. Couperin adheres to the custom and sticks to the meager musical forces expected at this end of Lent, but composes the most modern and ambitious music for services that had become true concerts – they were held in the afternoon, as the office of darkness was advanced for convenience. The greats of the court, like the king, would retreat to convents for Holy Week. All of Paris, deprived of opera during this liturgical time, flocked there in great pomp to hear nuns or the ladies of the Royal Academy sing the terrible lamentations of Jeremiah. This powerful contradiction – between austerity and luxury, violence and sophistication, plainchant and lyrical tragedy – certainly contributes to the fascination that François Couperin's triptych still exerts. No work from the Grand Siècle is recorded and performed as regularly. As for the six Leçons for Holy Thursdays and Good Fridays, which the 1713 edition promises and which probably remained in manuscript form, they may be sleeping in a library or a castle...","brand":"François Couperin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57962716889432,"sku":null,"price":23433254.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0898\/4943\/0360\/files\/3701025805409.jpg?v=1786661151","url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en-us\/products\/francois-couperin_lecons-de-tenebres-pieces-de-clavecin_2017","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}