ANDRÉ ISOIR — Le Livre D'Or De L'Orgue Français (2013) 6CD-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded between 1972 and 1976 and winner of the most prestigious awards, Le Livre d'or de l'orgue français (Golden Age of French Organ Music) is one of the most comprehensive anthologies ever dedicated to this instrument. Leaving aside the six Messiaen albums entrusted to Louis Thiry, André Isoir recorded the remaining twenty-four LPs in a trajectory leading from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. Nearly twenty of these titles survey the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it is these that are now reissued here. André Isoir evokes here his memories of this extraordinary undertaking.
While a certain universality guided the language of organ music in Europe until the late sixteenth century, nurtured on polyphony and transcriptions of vocal repertory, on free preludes or fantasias, the French school began to go its own way in the course of the following decades. It developed in the service of the Roman Catholic Church, in a context where plainchant retained great resonance, while the dominance of colour and a kind of intoxication with timbre resulted from techniques of instrument building that anticipated the tendencies of the repertory itself. From Titelouze to Dandrieu, the programmes presented here bear witness to the constancy of these factors throughout one of the most prosperous periods for French organ music, which coincides almost exactly with the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
Tracklist :
Organ – André Isoir
Notes
Coffret regroupant une anthologie des enregistrements réalisés de 1972 à 1976 par Calliope
Orgues :
-- J.G. Koenig Saint-Georges de Bouquenom, Sarre-Union (2-1 to 2-35, juin 1973)
- J.E Isnard Saint-Maximin la Sainte-Beaume (4-1 to 4-20 - 5-29 to 5-34, 1972)
- L.A Clicquot Saint-Jacques et Saint-Christophe Houdan (5-1 to 5-28, 1974)
- A. Kern Saint-Séverin Paris (6-18 to 6-31, juin 1974)
- F.H Clicquot Château de Fontainebleau (6-1 to 6-17, 1975)
- F.H Clicquot Saint-Pierre Poitiers (3-1 to 3-24, 1972)
- J.G. Koenig Bon Pasteur Angers (1-26 to 1-29, juillet 1973
- Haerpfer-Erman Saint-Germain des Prés Paris (1-1 to 1-25 , juin 1973)  

CLÉRAMBAULT • MARCHAND : Complete Harpsichord Music (Yago Mahugo) (2016) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Straddling the divide between the early French harpsichordists, such as Chambonnières and D’Anglebert, and the later masters of the genre – Couperin ‘Le Grand’, Rameau and Duphly – composers of this inbetween period have in the past been sadly neglected. This release, featuring the complete published harpsichord music of Louis-Nicolas Clérambault and Louis Marchand, who flourished at the turn of the 18th century, reverses that trend, highlighting the fascinating developments taking place in French harpsichord music of the time.

Clérambault was better known for his secular cantatas and organ music, but his sole publication for harpsichord, the Livre de pièces de clavecin, reveals a composer highly adept at writing for the keyboard instrument too. Each of the two suites is divided into ten dance movements, all remarkably diverse. The C major Suite contains a lively Allemande and Gavotte, each followed by a Double, which elaborates on the original. The two Sarabandes are darker in tone, marked ‘fort grave’ and ‘gravement’ respectively. The C minor Suite is also more serious, with some surprising dissonances occurring in the Sarabande. Marchand, too, proves himself to be a thoughtful composer: his Suite in D minor is among the finest of the period, particularly the splendid, introspective Chaconne. In contrast, La Vénitienne is an exuberant, lively piece, short but perfectly formed.

Spanish performer Yago Mahúgo has already released a highly-acclaimed album on Brilliant Classics comprising Royer’s complete harpsichord music (BC94479); Arkiv Music called it a ‘fine disc, which one would be proud to have in their collection’, and it was selected as CD of the Month in Spanish magazine Scherzo. Yago Mahúgo is founder and conductor of Ímpetus Madrid Baroque Ensemble, which has performed at some of the leading Spanish festivals, as well as concert halls nationwide.
The complete harpsichord works by Clerambault and Marchand on one CD!
Louis-Nicholas Clérambault and Louis Marchand are typical representatives of the French harpsichord style, flourishing in the first half of the 18-th century. Their Suites (multi movement sequels of dance forms) are grand, stately, rhythmically free and featuring lavish embellishments, all in perfect accordance with the courtly life at Versailles, the palace of Sun King Louis the XIV.
Harpsichordist Yago Mahugo is winner of several prestigious Competitions, notably the Bruges Early Music Competition. His previous recording on Brilliant Classics of works by Royer received several 5 star reviews in international music magazines, and was “CD of the Month” in the Spanish magazine Scherzo.
Excellent liner notes written by a musicologist. brilliantclassics.com
Tracklist & Credits :