Tuesday, October 8, 2019

François Couperin, 15eme, 16eme et 17eme Ordres

A friend of mine once remarked to me that music has been in decline since 1733. I have never forgotten that. That was, of course, the year that François Couperin died. One could certainly quibble with that. What about J. S. Bach, for example? Not much decline there. Or, if you like your music a little jollier, then there is always Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Still, he did have a point. Instead of arguing about it though, let's simply listen to three Ordres (what Couperin called his suites for harpsichord). Here is the unparalleled Scott Ross with three of the later Ordres.


2 comments:

Marc in Eugene said...

Hmm. What counts as 'decline', then? I don't get the point.

The complete Ross recordings of Bach keyboard works has shown up on Spotify and so will be embarking on those soon, I think/hope. Almost bought his complete Scarlatti but wavered between it and Belder's version and then the moment passed.

Bryan Townsend said...

I think my friend, a very subtle musician, just thought that Couperin was the pinnacle of Western music and everything since has been downhill.

I have Ross' Goldbergs and it is pretty fine. Haven't heard a lot of other Bach from him. Let me know what you think.