Let's not forget that Kenneth Gilbert's complete Couperin was recorded in
the studios of Radio Canada back in the late 1960s. It was made only for
broadcasting, for the Couperin tercentenary of 1968 -- which means that
this recording will be 50 years old next year... It was only after the fact
that Harmonia Mundi France took it up -- with minimal costs to themselves.
Scott Ross's recording of the complete Scarlatti sonatas was made under
rather similar circumstances, in the studios of Radio France, in 1984-5,
for the Scarlatti tercentenary of 1985. But by that stage there was a far
better consensus about how to record harpsichords, and Scott had the
advantage of working with the excellent engineer Alain Duchemin.
But anyway, KG's Couperin was not originally intended as a fully commercial
recording and is therefore somewhat different from the other complete
Couperin sets. Also, it was made in a decade when engineers' understandings
of what a harpsichord sounded like and how it should be recorded were
heavily influenced by the 1950s -- by which I mean the 1950s instruments
and the 1950s recording techniques. KG's Radio Canada engineers in fact
made an enlightened break with the earlier methods. They took a good long
step towards the more modern approaches to recording the instrument.
In later years, Kenneth himself felt ambivalent about the recording of Book
1, mainly because of the instrument used. When in the mid-1980s he issued a
single LP/CD of selections from the complete set, it did not include
anything from Book 1. The problem was partly the instrument, partly the
strings, and partly the different pitch, if I remember correctly.
For anyone who has a problem with this historic set, I recommend starting
at the end with Book 4 and working backwards. As you listen, try thinking
about what it is, rather than what it isn't. Technically, it was a
remarkable and truly historic achievement for 1968. Stylistically, it also
announced a radically new way of playing Couperin that very strongly
influenced two generations of players (until the inevitable return of the
stylistic pendulum introduced more subjective approaches once again, more
recently).
Finally, I was struck by Claudio's comment that a "very distinguished
colleague (not a member of this list) has disagreed with me in public over
how "current" is" the KG recording of Couperin. In general, it seems to me
that whenever we play, no matter how much we may try to put ourselves into
the mind of any given composer and his/her period, we are always
essentially and inescapably ourselves. The only "currency" that really
counts is the currency to oneself. Human nature ranges from the overtly
expressive and expansive to the more reserved and quiet. It is the mark of
an enduring composer that players all the way along that human spectrum can
find themselves in the music, and express themselves fully. Couperin, from
Kenneth Gilbert at one end to Blandine Verlet or Albert Fuller at the other
end, may not perhaps always seem to correspond to our own personal vision
of Couperin, but he is greater than we are, and far more diverse.
I write this just as my own Complete Couperin reaches completion (with Book
4 due out in the Spring), and during the long journey I have looked back at
and been grateful for the wonderful diversity of approaches. I can
recognize Couperin in all of them. But an individual has to choose what to
do in a concert or for a recording, and the most convincing choices for
players are almost always the ones that correspond to the range of our own
personality -- as long as we sometimes allow ourselves to live
dangerously...
It doesn't really work to hide behind stylistic questions of historical
performance practice, adopting that cloak as if it could cover up our own
particular skills (or defects). Using Historically Informed Preparation for
what we do should ideally, I think, be able to bring out and accentuate our
own individual personality rather than disguise it.
In the case of KG's Couperin, it was certainly one of the more historically
informed performances. His firm intention was to strip Couperin of his
later reputation as a "miniaturist" who made "charming character
portraits:, and reveal instead the diamond-hard strength behind the music,
the strong dance patterns, and the highly organized and coherent musical
language. In doing this, KG also of course revealed himself, because this
was the kind of Couperin he felt most comfortable inside. In revealing
himself in this way, he revealed for us all something strong and cogent
about Couperin's intrinsic grandeur.
Best wishes,
DM
*Davitt MoroneyProfessor Emeritus Department of Music*
*Morrison Hall*
*University of California, BerkeleyCA 94720-1200*
On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 7:07 AM, James McCarty <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, before the Interwebs, I had to travel to the
> East or West coasts to find recordings like Gilbert’s Couperin, Leonhardt’s
> KdF, etc. Unfortunately, the Gilbert Couperin recordings, on French
> Harmonia Mundi, have so much tape flutter that they are, to me,
> unlistenable. Apparently, this problem is on the master tape or somewhere
> else early in the recording chain, because it is present in the CD releases
> as well. It’s a real shame, since the performances themselves are so
> excellent.
> —
>
> James R. (Jay) McCarty, MD
> Fort Worth, TX
>
> “Sine arte, scientia nihil est"
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Note: opinions expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the individual con-
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