Jean-Philippe Rameau
Rameau's harpsichord writing is theatre for the fingers: character pieces that cluck and whirl, doubles that spin a gavotte into pure virtuosity, and Pièces de clavecin en concerts where the keyboard stands equal with violin and flute rather than trailing as continuo.
His Nouvelles suites stock the instrument with a whole menagerie and weather system. La Poule pecks its obstinate figure; Les Sauvages stamps with dance heat; Les Triolets move in lighter air. The same ear that rebuilt French harmony on the page poured that knowledge into music still freshly sprung. After fifty he turned almost wholly to the stage, filling tragédies and opéra-ballets with chorus, ballet heat and continuous drama that made French opera richer than the Italian models of his day. What the keyboard keeps is grace married to risk: enharmonic daring, Scarlatti-like dazzle, and a theorist's craft that never forgot how to entertain.
Compositions by Jean-Philippe Rameau appear on
Masters of Baroque
Trio Polyphonica was active between 1980 and 1990, with a repertoire spanning more than three centuries. This programme presents Baroque chamber works by Frescobaldi, Hellendaal, Couperin, Leclair, Rameau and Corelli.
The Virtuoso Harpsichord
Melbourne harpsichordist Jacqueline Ogeil presents the instrument’s virtuosic, dramatic and passionate sides, from Bach and Scarlatti to Handel, Rameau and the premiere of Naji Hakim’s suite Shasta.
Fandango
Flamboyant Spanish and French Baroque keyboard music from harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson, joined by Douglas Lawrence on chamber organ for Soler’s two-keyboard concerto and Couperin’s musettes.