If you’re looking for an expertly performed and beautifully recorded selection of François Couperin’s chamber and keyboard works, this Alpha offering is certainly worthy of consideration. Couperin’s unique chamber setting La Sultanne (scored with an independent bass part in addition to the usual trio-sonata lineup) receives a carefully considered, lucidly measured performance, highlighted by the ensemble’s fluent negotiation of the critical harmonic passages of the fourth-movement Gravement and following Légèrement and Vivement.
Also included are performances of the Quatorzième and Neuvième Concerts from Les Goûts-reunis or Nouveaux Concerts, the sequel to Couperin’s extremely well received Concerts Royaux composed two years earlier. The ensemble’s slower than usual tempos and refined articulation here are reminiscent of distinguished older performances by the Kuijkens (SEON) and by Holliger and colleagues (Archiv).
At various points throughout the program, harpsichordist Elisabeth Joye also performs all nine of Couperin’s warm-up keyboard exercises, L’Art de toucher le clavecin. Like Beaumont (Erato) and more recently Spieth (Solstice), Joye’s leisurely momentum and delicate phrasing ideally suit each prelude.
