The music on this release by keyboardist
Christophe Rousset
, tenor
Cyrille Dubois
, and, on a few tracks,
Rousset
's small ensemble
Les Talens Lyriques
will be all but unknown, even to hardcore lovers of the French Baroque. It is not at all clear why this should be, for much of it is charming. Possibly it is that listeners are accustomed to considering the French court as a thing of splendor, and a "sphere of intimacy" is of lesser interest. Another possible factor is that these are miscellaneous earlier works of
Couperin
and weren't published in the big sets that made his reputation in the first place. Whatever the case, the music is worth hearing, and it is beautifully rendered here. There are songs, including a few drinking tunes but mostly of the so-called air serieux type; the term doesn't denote great seriousness but rather a kind of sweet sadness with a pastoral tinge. There are solo harpsichord pieces that are a good deal simpler than those in
's major harpsichord publications, and they reflect some popular influences as well as those of the French keyboard tradition.
is wonderful in these, catching the fetching humor and never trying to find more in them than is there. There are also two trio sonatas, one of them a large programmatic battle piece called
La Steinkerque
; these involve
. This is a specialized release, and physical CD buyers will get detailed musicological notes, but anyone can listen to the album and enjoy it. ~ James Manheim