Move Records Australian classical & art music, est. 1968
Front cover art for The Bedroom of the King (La Chambre du Roi)

The Bedroom of the King (La Chambre du Roi)

Elysium Ensemble bring French chamber music of the early 18th century into the private apartments of Louis XIV: Couperin and Hotteterre in the douceur of Versailles and the Paris salons.

Elysium Ensembleensemble Greg Dikmansbaroque flute
  • CatalogueMD 3184
  • Released1998
  • Playing time67 minutes 51 seconds
  • Recorded at Move Records Studio

Listen & tracks

2 of 30 tracks have a preview · 7 works · 67:51

  1. Huitième concert dans le goût théâtralFrançois Couperin 3 movements9:13
    1. 1 Ouverture 3:39
    2. 2 Grande ritournelle 2:01
    3. 3 Air tendre 3:33
  2. Septième concertFrançois Couperin 6 movements13:47
    1. 4 Prélude 1:18
    2. 5 Allemande 2:29
    3. 6 Sarabande 3:01
    4. 7 Fuguéte 3:38
    5. 8 Gavotte 1:31
    6. 9 Sicilienne 1:50
  3. Huitième concertFrançois Couperin 3 movements4:46
    1. 10 Air tendre–Rondeau 1:13
    2. 11 Air léger 1:02
    3. 12 Loure 2:31
  4. Suite en E si mi (E minor)Jacques Hotteterre 7 movements16:09
    1. 13 Prélude 3:24
    2. 14 Allemande–La Fontainebleau 2:46
    3. 15 Sarabande–Le Depart 2:59
    4. 16 Air–Le Fleuri 1:29
    5. 17 Gavotte–La Mitilde 1:27
    6. 18 Menuet–Le Beaulieu & Deuxième 2:39
    7. 19 Rondeau–Le Lutin 1:25
  5. Huitième concertFrançois Couperin 2 movements3:17
    1. 20 Air 1:01
    2. 21 Sarabande 2:16
  6. Deuxième suite de pièces à deux dessusJacques Hotteterre 7 movements18:11
    1. 22 Les heureux moments 3:18
    2. 23 Allemande–La Maréchale de Villars 2:23
    3. 24 Musette & Menuet 3:19
    4. 25 Gigue 1 1:41
    5. 26 Sarabande–La St. Maurice 2:12
    6. 27 Rondeau 3:47
    7. 28 Gigue 2 1:31
  7. Huitième concertFrançois Couperin 2 movements2:28
    1. 29 Air léger 1:19
    2. 30 Air de Bacchantes 1:09

The Bedroom of the King – La Chambre du Roi evokes the intimacy, delicacy, refinement and above all the douceur (‘softness’ or ‘sweetness’) of French chamber music of the early 18th century, especially at the court of Louis XIV.

The Elysium Ensemble – Greg Dikmans (Baroque flute), Ruth Wilkinson (bass viol), Linda Kent (harpsichord) and Lucinda Moon (Baroque violin) – present a programme of François Couperin and Jacques Hotteterre. Both belonged to the Musique de la Chambre du Roi, the elite company that played for the king in his private apartments at Versailles. Their music is elegant conversation: natural charm and sensitive melody, classical beauty of form, delighting the intellect and moving the heart.

In keeping with period practice, Couperin’s Huitième Concert is broken in several places by his Septième Concert and by Hotteterre’s Suite in E minor and Deuxième suite de pièces à deux dessus, so that texture and rhetoric stay varied throughout.

In the artist’s words

This title evokes the intimacy, delicacy, refinement and, above all, the douceur (‘softness’ or ‘sweetness’) of French chamber music of the early 18th century. This is not the music of the grand court spectacles, the ballets and operas of composers such as Lully, which were the public expression of the magnificence of the Sun King (Louis XIV), though much of the musical language of French chamber music is derived from these sources. It is rather the expression of the best of French taste on a more private, human scale, music that requires the listener to become involved, not actively as in dancing in a court ball, but through the use of both the intellect and the heart. This is the music of refined discourse, such a feature of the French salons, where the mind is engaged and delighted by the elegance of the musical ideas and the passions are moved by the simple, natural beauty of the melodies and their agréments (‘graces’) and the sensual sonorities of the instruments on which they are played.

We have followed period practice and taken the further creative decision to embed the three smaller-scale works within the work here performed by the full ensemble. The Huitième Concert can thus be viewed as the main discourse or argument that unifies the whole, with the other works as examples or digressions.

— Greg Dikmans

Reviews

The ensemble perform these with a similar poise and style and haunting loveliness.

— The New Englander

the first detail that strikes me ... is the vitality of the performance ... The listener is kept interested by the varying of texture and timbre which is at the same still light and transparent ... dynamic playing.

— Caroline Downer, Cinnamon Sticks

Neither strident nor over-elaborate, the delightful compositions are played with appropriate delicacy ... and recorded with an intimate acoustic.

— Andrew Scott, The Sunday Age

If there's a word to sum up this CD, it is cheerfulness. The music seems to bounce along, even in the grave moments ... The performance is clean, agile and stylish.

— Neville Olliffe, Early Music News

Artists

Photograph of Elysium Ensemble

Elysium Ensemble

ensemble

The Elysium Ensemble has been acclaimed by critics for its exciting performances, fine musicianship and authoritative interpretations of Baroque and Classical repertoire on period instruments.

 Photograph of Greg Dikmans

Greg Dikmans

baroque flute

Greg Dikmans is a virtuoso of the baroque flute and recorder, and a conductor, educator and scholar who has long been at the forefront of the Early Music movement in Australia.

 Photograph of François Couperin

François Couperin

composer

François Couperin (1668–1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist, known as Couperin le Grand. Organist to Louis XIV and to Saint-Gervais in Paris, he remains the supreme French master of the harpsichord.

 No photograph: Jacques Hotteterre

Jacques Hotteterre

composer

Jacques Hotteterre wrote flute suites and pièces for the private apartments of Louis XIV: music of douceur, elegant conversation and classical form at the heart of early eighteenth-century French chamber style.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

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$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

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Also available to download from the iTunes Store.

Performers

Technical credits

  • Producer Greg Dikmans
    Martin Wright
  • Recording Engineer Vaughan McAlley
  • Venue Move Records Studio
  • Thanks to Arts Victoria
    Early Music Studio University of Melbourne
    Friends of Elysium
    Simone Pérèle

Details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Total playing time
67 minutes 51 seconds
Release date
Categories
Classical, Early music
Genres
Baroque, Early Music
Musical work copyright
© 1998 Move Records
Sound recording copyright
℗ 1998 Move Records
Catalogue
MD 3184
EAN
9314574318425

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