Early Music on Record Review

[doversoul1]

27 January

10.20am
FORQUERAY - COMPLETE WORKS
Michèle Devérité (clavecin), Kaori Uemura (viole de gambe), Ricardo Rodriguez (viole de gambe continuo) & Ryo Terakado (violon)

Harpsichordist Michèle Dévérité, in concert with Ryo Terakado and Kaori Uemura, presents the complete surviving works of Antoine Forqueray and his son, Jean-Baptiste. Augmented by musical tributes from famous (and not so famous) composers of their day, along with readings by Nicolas Lormeau of the Comédie-Française, this body of work is remarkable as much for its poetry and vitality, its virtuosity and sensuality, as for its many unanswered questions. Once the pride and joy of the Sun King, the sumptuous music on this boxed set is bound to charm the connoisseurs of today!
https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/cl...complete-works

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09pkxtt

[MickyD]

I'll be interested to hear about this, ds. I already have Christophe Rousset's set of the keyboard works of Forqueray, but the viola da gamba pieces are not in my collection. I note that Rousset has already done a set of those, too, but this new Harmonia Mundi set brings them altogether in a neat and reasonably priced collection.

[doversoul1]

3 February

10.55
Simon Heighes assesses recent releases of Baroque music.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qlwvt

No details yet but it sounds promising.

[ardcarp]

Nothing from Ancient Greece then?

[doversoul1]

Nothing from Ancient Greece then?

No. No lyre or aulos. Only sackbut and cornetto with plenty of horns but both the music and the talk were most enjoyable and informative. Simon Heighes always has amusing ways of telling something worth knowing (to me).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... both the music and the talk were most enjoyable and informative. Simon Heighes always has amusing ways of telling something worth knowing (to me).

[MickyD]

I liked the idea of the Bach family Magnificats disc - I listened to some more excerpts on the Hyperion site. Much as the performances are well sung and played, I had hoped that this new version of the CPE Bach work would be taken at less of a lick than previous versions, but sadly it isn't. I always remember thinking that a much older Collegium Aureum recording got the tempi just right.

[ardcarp]

Somewhere in yesterday's programme there was an extract from JSB's Magnificat; Esurientes, taken at a perfect speed, i.e. about two thirds of Jeggers. Everything crystal clear. As I only heard it en passant, I can't remember who or what was performing. Maybe the fashion for breakneck speeds is on the wane?

Edit: It was at the start of the item about the 'Bach family disc'. Iestin Davies the alto. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qlwvt
About 1hr 55min from start. So not everything at 100mph.

[vinteuil]

Somewhere in yesterday's programme there was an extract from JSB's Magnificat; Esurientes, taken at a perfect speed, i.e. about two thirds of Jeggers. Everything crystal clear. As I only heard it en passant, I can't remember who or what was performing. Maybe the fashion for breakneck speeds is on the wane?

Edit: It was at the start of the item about the 'Bach family disc'. Iestin Davies the alto. About 1hr 55min from start.

... this one :

http://amzn.eu/9mQrypj

.

[HighlandDougie]

10.55
Simon Heighes assesses recent releases of Baroque music.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qlwvt

No details yet but it sounds promising.

After last week's half an hour (it seemed like about twenty hours) of - I'll no doubt get shot for this - utterly worthy but yawn-inducing tinkling away on a harpsichord with the odd intercession of something more interesting (like a viola da gamba), Simon Heighes and the music were a delight. The Forquerays may have been the Elton Johns, père et fils, de leurs jours, but it felt like losing the will to live having yet another excerpt from the set being chosen by AMcG. If anything might be described as "dreary" (and certainly not César Franck), for me, this was it. OK, I could have switched it off but I wanted to listen to what was coming afterwards. Oops! Apologies to Forqueray lovers ......

[vinteuil]

.

... o Highland Dougie! Is there really no hope for you?

What about this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLvVVSGr2uU

.

[HighlandDougie]

I know, I know ..... the ADSL speed here in la France Profonde is so woeful that YouTube clips simply don't load when everyone else in the village is using their Orange Livebox on a Sunday evening to watch "le Strictly Come Dancing" - or whatever. I'll persevere with what looks like an interesting clip but not, I think, with that Harmonia Mundi box set - even AMcG wasn't that bowled away by the harpsichord playing. He did mention that she was, perhaps, not quite in the Christophe Rousset class (for example, his Couperin and Balbastre are much more to my taste, ditto his Rameau). Anyway, any Fourqueray recommendations on CD? It'll make a change from Beethoven's Op 109.

[vinteuil]

...any Forqueray recommendations on CD? It'll make a change from Beethoven's Op 109.

... well, I like these -

http://amzn.eu/4fy5iAf

,

http://amzn.eu/hBmlNgY

,

http://amzn.eu/aZCUpKu

,

http://amzn.eu/hooQYc1

[MickyD]

This new disc from a very young artist is said to be something very special:




I'm in agreement with Vints over the Christophe Rousset set.

[HighlandDougie]

Christophe Rousset for £4.69 + p 'n p can't be bad (being a good Scot, I do like a wee bargain) - and Micky's Justin Taylor tip (despite the fact that he looks about 14) got such superlative reviews ici en France that I've bought it as well. And, scanning the Amazon France page of Forqueray CDs, I realised that I already have Gustav Leonhardt (a Diapason monthly freebie disc in 2015), which I remember rather enjoying at the time. So, thank you both for your suggestions - I'm all set to become a Forquerista!