François Couperin: Concerts Royaux Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset

• François Couperin (1668 - 1788): Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert:
• 1 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: I. Prélude. Gravement 02:37
• 2 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: II. Allemande. Légèrement 01:51
• 3 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: III. Sarabande. Mesuré 03:16
• 4 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: IV. Gavotte 00:50
• 5 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: V. Gigue. Légèrement 01:51
• 6 Concerts Royaux, Premier Concert: VI. Menuet en trio 01:09
• Concerts Royaux, Second Concert:
• 7 Concerts Royaux, Second Concert: I. Prélude. Gracieusement 01:58
• 8 Concerts Royaux, Second Concert: II. Allemande fuguée. Gaiement 02:13
• 9 Concerts Royaux, Second Concert: III. Air tendre 04:31
• 10 Concerts Royaux, Second Concert: IV. Air contrefugué. Vivement 03:03
• 11 Concerts Royaux, Second Concert: V. Échos. Tendrement 02:47
• Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert:
• 12 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: I. Prélude. Lentement 02:07
• 13 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: II. Allemande. Légèrement 02:16
• 14 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: III. Courante 02:27
• 15 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: IV. Sarabande grave 04:07
• 16 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: V. Gavotte 01:41
• 17 Concerts Royaux, Troisième Concert: VI. Musette. Naïvement 03:26
• 18 Concerts royaux, Troisième Concert: VII. Chaconne légère 03:32
• Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert:
• 19 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: I. Prélude. Gravement 01:39
• 20 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: II. Allemande. Légèrement 01:42
• 21 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: III. Courante française. Galamment 02:05
• 22 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: IV. Courante à l'italienne. Gaiement 02:58
• 23 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: V. Sarabande. Très tendrement 03:17
• 24 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: VI. Rigaudon. Légèrement et marque 01:25
• 25 Concerts Royaux, Quatrième Concert: VI. Forlane en rondeau. Gaiement 03:08
• Total Runtime 01:01:56

Info for François Couperin: Concerts Royaux

Couperin’s four Concerts royaux were published in 1722 as in a supplement to his third anthology of harpsichord pieces. They sound like a twilight tribute to Sun King’s reign. The score doesn’t mention any instrument but we know the musician envisaged them as ensemble pieces for a mixed consort of instruments. And that was how they were performed at the Sunday concerts at Versailles organized by Mme de Maintenon for Louis XIV between 1714 and 1715.

Chamber music concerts were in fashion at the time so the four Suites were to be played by a bass instrument and several dessus, and not only by the solo harpsichord.Christophe Rousset and his soloists recorded with sense and sensibility this concentrate of French elegance and virtuosity!

With Violinist Stéphanie-Marie Degand, Flutist Georges Barthel, Oboist Patrick Beaugiraud and Violist Atsushi Sakaï, the 18th-century-music lover and baroque conductor features a majestic version of these well-named royal Concerts!

Les Talens Lyriques
Stéphanie-Marie Degand, violin
Georges Barthel, flute
Patrick Beaugiraud, oboe
Atsushi Sakaï, viola de gamba
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord, direction

Christophe Rousset
the founder of the Les Talens Lyriques and an internationally renowned harpsichordist, is a musician and an orchestral conductor inspired by a passion for opera and the rediscovery of the European musical heritage.

After harpsichord studies at La Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, followed by the Conservatoire Royal in The Hague with Bob van Asperen (winning, at the age of 22, the prestigious First Prize in the 7th Bruges Harpsichord Competition), and followed in turn by the creation of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991, Christophe Rousset has a perfect grasp of the richness and diversity of the Baroque, Classical and Preromantic repertoires.

After initially attracting attention for his extraordinary talent as a harpsichordist, he soon made his mark as a conductor, with invitations from around the world to perform with his ensemble (Opéra de Paris, De Nederlandse Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Salle Pleyel, Opéra de Lausanne, Teatro Real, Theater an der Wien, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Barbican Centre, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Aix-en-Provence and Beaune Festivals, to name but a few venues).

Alongside this, he has continued to pursue an active career as harpsichordist and chamber musician, performing and recording on the most beautiful period instruments. His complete performances of the works for harpsichord of F. Couperin, Rameau, d’Anglebert and Forqueray and various recordings of pieces by J. S. Bach (Partitas, Variations Goldberg, Concertos for harpsichord, English Suites, French Suites, Klavierbüchlein) are considered landmarks. His most recent recording of another musical monument by the German Cantor, the 2nd book of the Well-tempered Clavier (Aparté) – a recording made in the Château of Versailles on a Joannes Ruckers harpsichord (1628) – has been awarded a number of honours, including a “Choc” from Classica magazine and CD of the week from Britain’s Radio 3. The instruments of the Paris Museum of Music have also been entrusted to him for the recording of three CDs of music by Royer, Rameau and Froberger.

Teaching is also an aspect with major importance for Christophe Rousset, who conducts and organises master classes and academies for young people (Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, CNSMDs Paris, Académie d’Ambronay, Orchestre Français des Jeunes Baroques, Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the Britten-Pears Orchestra) and he devotes himself with great energy, alongside the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques, to introducing young secondary school pupils in Paris and the surrounding region to the world of music.

Christophe also has a career as guest conductor (Liceu Barcelona, San Carlo Naples, La Scala Milan, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Orquesta Nacional de España and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, among other orchestras) as well as the active pursuit of musical research, with the production of critical editions and the publication by Actes Sud of a study on Rameau in 2007.

Christophe Rousset has been awarded the French honours of Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite.

Booklet for François Couperin: Concerts Royaux