It’s unlikely that you’ll ever hear a harpsichord that’s more brilliantly colored, vibrant, and full-bodied than the two-manual instrument that Naoki Kitaya uses to record these impressively fashioned and eloquently stated pieces by Louis Couperin. Although Louis commands far less territory in the pages of the CD catalog than does his nephew François, his keyboard suites appear with reasonable frequency on compilations with other composers–and occasionally receive the kind of dedicated programmatic treatment and decidedly serious artistic attention that they get here (Laurence Cummings’ offering on Naxos, for example). Kitaya has literally designed the works, carefully choosing specific movements from Couperin’s larger array of dance-pieces to satisfy his own notions of key order and tempo relationships. Not only did he organize the program to total 31 tracks (“the sum of the two digits of my birth-date”), but he also used this same number to determine the number of suites on the disc–four (the sum of three plus one). In addition to these personal numerological considerations, Kitaya views the entire program in terms of “one large suite” that results from the deliberately organized progression of keys–D, A, C, and G.
Ultimately, none of these factors has anything to do with the performances, which are respectfully passionate and brimming with improvisatory flair and technical finesse. You know that this guy’s head is really in the music–you almost hear him thinking as he plays those unmetered, un-rhythmed preludes non mesurées–but still the notes just flow and spin out in streams of almost continuous sparkling, lustrous threads. In the straight dance movements Kitaya truly captures the music’s inherent rhythmic forces–all the while driving his high-powered instrument to its optimal limit. This disc will be a must for Couperin fans and harpsichord-lovers–but one listen to tracks such as the “Passacaille” from the Suite in C also will effectively and forever put to rest anyone’s faulty belief that the harpsichord is just a whiny, tinkly little toy. An impressive achievement on all counts!
