Dear members,

 

I finally found the time to listen in peace to Jean Rondeau’s recent CD with
works of Rameau and Royer.  Already the first piece (Prélude from suite en
la mineur, premier livre de pieces de clavecin) made it clear that this CD
was not a waste of money, « bien au contraire » as they say in French.

 

I’ve multiple recordings of Rameau’s work for harpsichord and this is the
first version in which I experience a calm grace throughout the entire
piece. Previous recordings kind of hit the gas pedal once the “prélude non
mesuré” part was over. Jean Rondeau stays calm behind the steering wheel and
lets you nicely enjoy all the harmonic twists.

 

Although in essence, Royer’s work is more focussing on effect rather than
affect, Mr. Rondeau is getting the best out of this music. 

 

The harpsichord used for the recording is the 18th century anonymous
historical instrument of “Château d’Assas”. The instruments sounds fabulous
but this might of course be a trick of the sound engineers who could have
added a bit of “boom” to the recording. I don’t know if there are details
available for this instrument? Did anyone ever make a copy of this
instrument?

 

All in all, this is a big inspiration to get back to the keyboard and put
some Rameau/Royer on the rack. If you want to test the water, you’ll find a
short documentary on making the CD on YouTube:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvgy7EoBsBQ

 

Have a nice week hitting the keyboard(s)!

 

Greetings,

 

Chris.


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