Francois,
Je suis triste. I'm still trying to get over the fact that it was a digital piano . For "acoustic" music, this has to be the very best use of a digital piano! The whole romanticism of a Frenchman in Nantes, France, playing early music of the great French clavecinists on an actual harpsichord ... oh, my bubble has been burst

Hi Eddy,
You don't have to be sad. It is even the contrary. You like harpsichord, but you had in mind that
- good harpsichords are very expensive;
- they are difficult to move (although much lighter than pianos);
- they are always out of tune (as you seem to like French, I will tell you a popular joke we use for harpists, but which works also for harpsichordists: les clavecinistes passent la moitié de leur temps à accorder leur instrument, et l'autre moitié à jouer faux );
- as a pianist, you'll have hard time playing a harpsichord because of a very sensitive touch and a narrow keyboard.

Everything is true. However:
- my digital piano costs about 1,200 euros, which is much cheaper than any reasonable harpsichord;
- you can tune it in any temperament among a choice of 7 different ones. Also you can change the pitch within a second;
- and you can trap people living 6,000 km away sending them nice mp3 files of harpsichord !
Life is beautiful, isn't it ?

Francois,
Yes the joke is very funny . We'll just keep the recordings coming, I enjoy them very much and they help me expand my knowledge of the early stuff. Speaking of life being beautiful, I hope you saw Roberto Begnini's fantastic La vie est belle (1997). Everyone should see that movie!

Once again, it is enjoyable to listen to your harpsichord recordings, even if it's not a harpsichord! Daquin's Le coucou would make a nice addition to the Rappel des oiseaux; I'd be interested in hearing that. I don't know many of these pieces in their "natural" environment but I had encountered a couple of them previously in piano arrangements by Godowsky.

Okay, done. Hopefully, we are all set now. (*fingers crossed...* )

Some very idiomatic French Baroque playing. You have a real feel for this music, as well as real flair. Your ornaments are nothing short of amazing.
Personally I think the profusion or ornamentation in this music works a bit against it. Like this ornate Baroque architecture where you can't see the lines for all the frills and curls. Rameau seems a bit more moderate with it than Couperin, isn't he ? But I must confess to having little affinity with this repertoire, being far more drawn to the somewhat starker lines of German and Italian baroque. I don't even like Bach played with too much trills and frills (which my great compatriot and Bach-incarnate Ton Koopman is often guilty of).
I can recognize this is great playing though. The digital sounds like the real stuff, especially in the lower half (a bit less so in the upper half).

No, Monica: I was quoting François, but I did not use the quote function.

Thanks Eddy, I'm pleased you like this old music. It always a surprise for me to think that something which was written on the paper almost three centuries ago can make us so happy, although the world changed so much. Mystery of art ! No, I have never seen 'La vie est belle', but I'll do so, based on your good advice...



Thanks Andrew. Yes, good idea to add the Coucou. There is another composer of this French harpsichord school for whom I have a particular love, who is Jacques Duphly. I will certainly submit some Duphly's pieces one of those days.



Yes we are !!! Thanks Monica.



Thank you Chris. Yes I know you are more from the serious protestant side ... Although Rameau was sometimes quoted as the 'French Bach', the depth of their musics is certainly not comparable. But we cannot play Bach all the time, can we ? Well, I've lived during two years or so practicing every day the Goldberg variations, and I remember this period as a marvellous one ! But Bach did not write any opera, although Rameau made a dozen, which are incredibly full of musical ideas, beautiful orchestrations and magnificent melodies which fit the human voice better than the Cantor's ones (which are more written for angels...).

Yes We Can


Who needs Bach operas when we've got his Cantatas and Passions....
The Coffee Cantata is quite close to an opera actually, as are some other of the few worldly cantatas. I'm convinced Bach would have been a smashing opera composer, if only he'd had time for such frivolities.

Certainly, although he might have a limited interest/knowledge for theater. Actually I don't even know if such a form of art was popular in the early XVIIIth germany...

With 20 children (not counting PDQ)?! He had to have been well acquainted with drama and theatre, and had no time

Yes... Some years ago I had the chance to listen a very good talk about Bach's life during our 'Folle Journée' festial here in Nantes. I remember that among his 20 children, only 5 became adults. Life was not easy at this time !

And one was an idiot and 3 were composers.

Bach was a Lutheran and for him and his family (with the exception of J.Ch. Bach), the theatre was frivolous and therefore out of bounds.