Given how imaginatively conceived Rameau’s harpsichord works are you’d think that simply playing the notes and observing period style would be sufficient to bring this music to life. Nope–and here is the proof. Harpsichordist Eiji Hashimoto delivers informed though ultimately undistinguished performances that never transcend the competent. Though Hashimoto offers one of the swiftest renderings of the treacherous “Les Cyclopes”, it’s disappointingly characterless and lacks any sense of that sinister animation that others (Ross, Rousset, and Spieth especially) routinely achieve. Hashimoto’s four-square, graceless rendering of the famous opening Allemande of the Suite in A major meanders aimlessly, refusing to dance. Likewise, any allusion to the hen implicit in “La Poule” is undermined by Hashimoto’s relentless straightforwardness–the result sounding like hackneyed variations on “chopsticks”. Centaur’s sound is adequate, but enough said. Boring!
