François COUPERIN (1668 - 1733)
Les Nations
Premier Ordre: La Françoise [21:06]
Second Ordre: L'Espagnole [29:18]
Troisième Ordre: L'Impériale [28:13]
Quatrième Ordre: La Piémontoise [21:28]
Juilliard Baroque (Sandra Miller (transverse flute), Gonzalo X. Ruiz (oboe), Dominic Teresi (bassoon), Monica Huggett, Cynthia Roberts (violin), Sarah Cunningham (viola da gamba), Daniel Swenberg (theorbo, guitar), Kenneth Weiss (harpsichord))
rec. 2013, Corpus Christi Church, 525 West 121st Street, New York City, USA. DDD
NAXOS 8.573347-48 [50:28 + 49:45]
François Couperin was one of the foremost advocates of the
goûts réunis, the mixture of the French and Italian styles. This
comes especially to the fore in his Apothéoses, written in honour
of the two famous representatives of these styles, Jean-Baptiste Lully and
Arcangelo Corelli respectively. These pieces were printed in 1724 and 1725.
The next year he underlined his preference with the publication of Les
Nations, a collection of four ordres for two treble instruments
and basso continuo. The titles refer to the four main powers on the European
continent: France (La Françoise), Spain (L'Espagnole),
the Holy Roman Empire (L'Impériale) and Italy (La Piémontoise).
The latter title refers to Piedmont which represents the Duchy of Savoy which
was a French ally and became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 in the
aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession.
The ordres are divided into two sections. The first is a trio sonata
which refers to the Italian style; each of them comprises a sequence of movements
of contrasting character and tempo. The trio sonatas were reworkings of pieces
which Couperin had composed in the 1690s. At that time the Italian style was
officially rejected in France. Therefore Couperin presented his sonatas under
a nickname. The trio sonata in La Françoise was originally called
La Pucelle, the one in L'Espagnole was known as La
Visionnaire and the sonata L'Astrée found its way into
La Piémontoise. It has always been assumed that the trio sonata from
L'Impériale was specifically composed for Les Nations.
However, this is a reworking of a sonata with the title La Convalescente
which was discovered not long ago in Dresden. It is a copy by Johann Georg
Pisendel, the star violinist of the Dresden court chapel in the first half
of the 18th century. It is a little surprising that this is not mentioned
by Robert Mealy, who wrote the liner-notes to the present recording.
Each of the trio sonatas is followed by a dance suite, representing the French
style. All suites include the four dances which had become a fixed part of
any suite: allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue. In their respective tempi
- slow, fast, slow, fast - they are more or less counterparts to the four
movements of the Corellian trio sonata. Every suite is expanded by additional
pieces, mostly other dances, such as gavotte, bourrée or menuet. Three of
the four ordres - the exception is La Piémontoise - include
a passacaille or chaconne. This is a reference to the past:
such pieces based on a repeated bass pattern were a fixed part of any opera
by Lully. Three ordres - the exception here is La Françoise
- have a rondeau. This was a form which was to become very popular
in the near future, especially in the galant idiom of the mid-18th
century. This way Les Nations connect the past and the future.
Couperin left it to the performers to choose the instruments. The title page
doesn't mention any instrument; the four part books only refer to 1.
dessus and 2e dessus, a basse d'archet (string
bass) and basse chifrée (basso continuo). Because of that the recordings
on the market - and there are quite a number of them - are not only different
in regard to interpretation but also in the use of instruments. Musica antiqua
Köln and Musica ad Rhenum, for instance, play these ordres with two
violins and two transverse flutes, either in alternation or colla parte.
Hespèrion XX and, more recently, Les Ombres (review)
add two oboes and a bassoon. Juilliard Baroque is somewhere in the middle:
two violins, one flute and one oboe. The participation of these instruments
differs from one movement to the other. Some movements are played with two
violins, others with a violin and a flute or an oboe, and there are also movements
with one violin on the one hand and flute and oboe playing colla parte
on the other. This results in a maximum variety and it is often easy to understand
why some instruments have been selected to play a particular dance. In L'Espagnol,
for instance, the allemande is played with violin and transverse
flute, reflecting the character indication gracieusement. The ensuing
courante has the description noblement, and here the violin
is joined by the oboe. The sarabande from La Piémontoise
shows that the oboe can also play tendrement.
The rear inlay doesn't specifically say so but as these recordings
were made on two single days I think it is safe to assume that these are live
recordings. There are some moments between movements where you can hear some
slight noises of musicians turning the pages. That makes these performances
even more admirable. Although there are various recordings available I am
glad that these fine musicians who belong to the very best in the business
have added their interpretations of these beautiful works to the catalogue.
Every single player has made a career as a soloist, and Monica Huggett is
one of the pioneers of historical performance practice. It is good to see
that she and her colleagues are ready to share their knowledge and experience
with the students of the Juilliard School which for many years stayed away
from historical performance practice. This disc is an impressive testimony
of their skills in the interpretation of baroque repertoire.
Even if you have a good recording of Les Nations in your collection,
you should seriously consider adding this one. I am sure you will return to
it regularly.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
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