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)  

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 1 (Angela Hewitt) (2003) APE (tracks), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 2 (Angela Hewitt) (2003) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Angela Hewitt once again presents an intelligent, yet eminently musical performance of Baroque keyboard works on the piano on the second of her three discs devoted to Couperin's Pieces de Clavecin. Her depth of knowledge, revealed in her liner notes, extends from the works to his life, his times, and Baroque music. This can be heard in her playing, adding to her own enjoyment of the pieces. She obviously enjoys the challenges of interpreting then presenting the pictures Couperin hints at with titles such as Les Ombres errantes (The Wandering Souls), La Sophie (either a Muslim mystic or the name of a young girl), and Saillie (either a leap or a quip), and of performing them on a modern version of an instrument that had only just been invented when these were written and, therefore, is not the instrument Couperin anticipated being used. On this particular disc, the works primarily use the upper part of the keyboard. Hewitt has a touch that is neither too heavy for this, which would make them sound dense or even muddy, nor too delicate, which would make them seem more ephemeral or trifling. Nor does she ever try to approximate the sounds of a harpsichord. She gives each piece beautifully clear tones and phrasing. Her presentation and her understanding make the disc a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Patsy Morita
Tracklist & Credits :

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Keyboard Music • 3 (Angela Hewitt) (2005) APE (image+.cue), lossless

With this disc, Angela Hewitt, the renowned Canadian pianist who heretofore specialized in the keyboard music of Bach, completes her survey of the keyboard music of François Couperin. While it is a highly selective survey -- Hewitt chose the works based on how well she thought the harpsichord works might sound on the modern concert grand and on her own personal interest -- it is also a highly significant survey. Because while Bach's harpsichord music is standard repertoire for most pianists, Couperin's harpsichord music has remained terra incognito for nearly all pianists and Hewitt's marvelously apt and wonderfully balanced performances go a long way toward providing the proof that the music can sound equally delightful on the piano. With all the Third Suite and much of the Fourth Suite from Couperin's Third Book of Pièces de Clavecin plus 10 movements chosen from the first and second books, Hewitt's selections are all highly effective and sound as natural on the piano as they do on the harpsichord. Purists may disparage the whole notion of playing harpsichord music on the piano, but even they will have to admit that Hewitt's warmly modulated tone and virtually flawless technique make for lovely listening. Hyperion's sound is perhaps just a bit too distant, but never less than clear and deep. James Leonard     Tracklist & Credits :

COUPERIN : Complete Chamber Music (Musica ad Rhenum · Jed Wentz) 7xCD BOX-SET (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN : Les Nations (Musica Antiqua Köln) (1984) 2CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

All tracks & credits