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Couperin, F: Les Concerts Royaux - Savall

Couperin, F: Les Concerts Royaux - Savall

Alia Vox  AVSA9840

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Chamber


François Couperin: Les Concerts Royaux

Le Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall (conductor)


Considered one of the greatest French composers of his time, François Couperin (1668-1733) was music master to numerous members of the French royal family, including the Dauphin (the Duke of Burgundy), and for many years enjoyed the king's patronage. His Concerts Royaux, composed in 1714-1715 and published in 1722 for Louis XIV, in the twilight of his reign, were performed on Sundays in the royal apartments. At the beginning of the 18th century, France was at the height of the Grand Siècle, which was soon to founder and gradually disintegrate; its people suffered, while the Court of Louis XIV attempted to stave off the prospect of imminent decline. The great era of Molière, Lully, Charpentier and Marais was drawing to a close and a new generation, that of Lalande and Couperin, was dawning.

In these pieces Couperin abandons his early Italian style in favour of one which is more French and he left the instrumentation of each piece up to the performing musicians. For each of these four Concerts, Jordi Savall has chosen a distinctive line-up of instruments to achieve the best expression of their individual musical character. As the composer himself indicates in the preface to the published version, "these pieces may be played on the harpsichord, but also on the violin, the flute, the oboe, the viol and the bassoon. I composed them for the little chamber concerts commanded by Louis XIV on almost every Sunday of the year... If they are as much to the public's taste as they were to that of the late king, I have a sufficient number thereof to publish several complete volumes". And that is exactly what he did, for in 1724, following the first four suites of Concerts Royaux, Couperin went on to publish his Goûts Réunis.

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