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
