L’Aimable

Céline Frisch records late French harpsichord works in a recital portraying une Journée avec Louis XV. Included are pieces by:

• F. Couperin
• François d’Agincourt
• Pierre Dandrieu
• Louis-Claude Daquin
• Royer
• Corrette and
• Balbastre (at least as an arranger of Rameau)

Frisch has chosen a modern copy of an instrument originally by Jean-Claude Goujon and updated in 1784 by Joachim Swanen. The instrument, made by Andrea Restelli, includes a special buff stop and knee levers for controlling registration.

From the liner notes, details about the genesis of this album:

The usual choice up to now has been to focus on either the most perfectionist of its great composers (Couperin), or the most ambitious (Rameau) or the most adventurous (Forqueray). Yet that leaves out a whole area of repertoire that Céline Frisch has restored using an entirely new approach: from Couperin’s Morning Awakening (Réveil-matin) to Corette’s Stars (Étoiles), she has retraced the course of a whole day at the court of Louis XV.

‘It was an invitation to a concert at Fontainebleau that persuaded me to immerse myself in all this repertoire. I read everything I could find, while keeping a firm hold of the thread that would lead through this imaginary day. From one concert to the next I experimented with differently-weighted balances, I tried out different sequences, cut out pieces that were superb but inessential, and included pieces that hadn’t struck me at first sight, but in this context revealed quite different qualities.’

She goes on to retell an experience with Leonhardt who had criticized the playing of her ensemble, Café Zimmermann. He’d suggested that their playing needed to be more agréable. Frisch seems to have been inspired by this exchange, as far as her approach to the album’s titular piece which sits more or less in the center of the album. It’s a significant mood change, perhaps one we’re more familiar with when it comes to French repertoire, than the earlier positioned suite by Daquin that comes alive with Scarlatti-an style with the promise of a hunt, and the l’appel des chiens. This is followed by La prise du cerf with which the composer does an admirable job of portraying a real chase. Programme music—or in this case character pieces that portray the sounds of nature—weren’t new. Still today we can get the tongue-in-cheek references. In some ways it points to the desire to be writing for your audiences amusement.

The busy Courante by D’Agincourt is peppered with a rich tapestry of ornaments that help us remember the meaning of the term baroque. One may be inclined to look about for art or architecture that matches the embellished music. It’s extremely well played, very convincing.

Dandreiu’s Carillon also teases us with imitation; while the ensemble piece La Sonnerie de Sainte-Geneviève du mont de Paris by Marais is more famous, this re-creation of bells is nevertheless a colorful one.

Couperin’s “nightingale in love” presents less literal sound painting, It’s framed as part of the King’s Promenade amoureuse et bucolique, fitting the theme of the King’s outside walk. Familiar fodder from Rameau is brought to life as an example of “play” and “the heart’s diversions”; we can imagine a good natured evening with an opéra-ballet performance as entertainment.

The recital ends with a rondeau dedicated to the stars. On harpsichord it recalls to my modern ears the sound of a music box, which likely wouldn’t have been lost on listeners at the time. The stars do twinkle with Frisch’s intelligent playing and the colorful instrument she has chosen.

I found the design for this recital to be an interesting one. The diversity of styles represented is as diverse as the sounds she culls from her instrument. Some of these pieces were new to me, which is always a treat. The variety also made for a more interesting recital: both the variety of character in these pieces but also the variety of composers represented.

The lean sound quality of the recording is good; the acoustic through speakers brings to mind the closeness we are to the instrument and the performer. All of this works well to recreate the sensation of putting ourselves in the King’s shoes, or at least, how the king may have recalled hearing the pieces as he went about about his day? While the sound of this instrument isn’t the richest or loudest to my memory, it does come to the fore in some the character pieces in a strong way.

The quality of any one of these pieces is certainly a subjective pursuit, but I’m of the belief that the pair of pieces by Royer are perhaps the finest wrought on the album (which doesn’t, to be sure, disqualify Balbastre from recognition with his most engaging rendition of Rameau for two hands). I couldn’t help but go back to the album where I’d first become acquainted with these pieces, the 1993 release of Royer’s music by Christophe Rousset. While Rousset’s reading of L’Aimable is faster, which I like, the speed seems to wear the piece thin over time. I’m torn, both are nice; the atmosphere and instrument I think is superior on the older recording.

There is a connectedness I hear in Frisch’s reading of Les Tendres Sentiments which I think works better. You can practically see the change of light in the room from the movement of clouds and tree leaves outside. It’s introspective music and it’s a shame we are divorced in recordings of not getting the visual bonus of period art or the experience of daily life. But these pieces do help us dream.

I make this reference because I couldn’t help but think as I enjoyed this album how much the concept of story, of the day’s activities, or your role in life can influence our interpretation and understanding of the musical language. And I think these extra-musical meanings that are added to this genre of music through their titles are part of what we need to understand to get to the heart of the pieces. “Tender sentiments” however can be expressed and felt by different people differently. Dogs chasing a fox can be more boisterous one day than another. Again, I appreciate the variety Frisch brought to the program and the theme that guided it.

Warmly recommended.