Rameau, J P - La Pantomime - Sempé, Skip (harpsichord)

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Toimitusaika: Noin 7 - 14 arkipäivää

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The first release of Paradizo's "Musique Française" series is a stylish selection of Skip Sempe's favourite harpsichord pieces by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). Next to the harpsichord works of Francois Couperin, those of Rameau are among the most outstanding examples of 18th century French harpsichord literature. Rameau was well known as a harpsichordist and organist before embarking, at the age of 50, on opera. Rameau was interested in the future. He preferred to ignore, rather unabashedly, the conventions and traditions of the past. Couperin, in contrast, was a traditionalist. His works represented a kind of French théâtre du salon, whereas Rameau's tendency was toward the more Italianate théâtre de l'opéra. The spectacle des mains of left-hand figurations (called batteries by Rameau) which we find in Les Cyclopes, or the arpeggios that characterize La Dauphine, are both a long way from the notion of that which "touched rather than impressed" François Couperin. Rameau was untiring in his provocative display of newly invented and novel effects. His use of shock value within the framework of good upbringing and polished manners clearly reflects his idea of "high style". But Rameau was also one of the greatest composers for the ballet of any period. This genre of composition appears generally in his orchestral music, though in the Pieces de clavecin en concerts, he reduced the orchestral forces to only three instrumentalists. The programme includes transcriptions for two harpsichords of these Pièces de clavecin en concerts. Performance of these pieces on two harpsichords follows the idea of Francois Couperin, who performed his chamber music like this with friends and students. Skip Sempé and Olivier Fortin have performed and recorded this kind of en concerts playing in a wide variety of other repertoire. Skip Sempé has a long-standing reputation as the finest interpreter of this repertoire in the world today. He performs on the fabled harpsichord made by Bruce Kennedy, patterned after 18th century French models.