Tír Na HiFi

Listening right now to some of my favourite works by Vivaldi, the sonatas for cello (and basso continuo) as performed by one of my favourite cellists, Anner Bylsma. This recording is one of many Bylsma performances featured on the Vivarte box and it is also featured on the 4 superb box sets that were issued to celebrate the great man’s 80th birthday (which I highly recommend). What I admire about the man was the sense of poetry and sheer expressive love that he brought to the music and that is exactly what I hear here. A beautiful melding of the sensuous and the cerebral that continues to inspire and transport me.

I caught this group last October in Cobh Cathedral. One of the two best concerts I was at last year.
This is an excellent recording too

One of my most profoundly rewarding listening experiences over the past year has been Carole Cerasi’s magisterial traversal of the complete harpsichord works of François Couperin for the Metronome label. This is a quite magnificent achievement and I have returned to these recordings time and again. I adore the music of Couperin and own many different interpretations from such master players as Olivier Baumont, Blandine Rannou, Frédérick Haas, Gustav Leonhardt, Blandine Verlet, Violaine Cochard, Bertrand Cuiller and Olivier Fortin, all of whom have much to tell us about this very great music.

Carole Cerasi’s achievement is to open the window wide on the unique marriage of the cerebral and emotional in Couperin’s music. There is such a probing intellectual depth in this music but is never forbidding. There is an inclusivity at the very heart of this music which compels me to return again and again and drink deep of its insights. This is music of such warmth and compassion and evokes such a deep sense of joy and an acute sensitivity to the preciousness of life. There are a great many depths and subtle layers to Couperin’s music but paramount to one’s mind is a constant reminder of the primacy of life.

Carole Cerasi’s performances resonate beautifully with the heart and mind. She has evidently lived long with the music and her understanding expands beyond the technical complexities to embrace fully the warm human glow at the heart of this great music.

Goodness that's quite a collection of Couperin, mcq. Strangely enough I found myself discussing Couperin and wider French harpsichord music with another forum member last night. Jean Rondeau was the performer in that case and it sounded lovely on the Wilson's! I was thinking I need to listen to more of this music, especially since I now have a passing familiarity with some of the dots. They're a great example of the limitations of sheet music!

I just find solo harpsichord music so rewarding, Simon. It creates a stillness in the mind and provokes much inner contemplation, which is always a good thing.

I would also recommend a thorough investigation of Louis Couperin. Christophe Rousset’s recordings on the Aparté label are mandatory listening, in my view. To be honest, anything Rousset records is mandatory listening, in my view.

Jean Rondeau is a very fine young musician. I would strongly recommend a listen to a CD entitled Vertigo, which takes in work from Rameau and Roger.