FRANÇOIS COUPERIN
Pièces de violes – 1728

Reference: AVSA9893

• Jordi Savall
• Ton Koopman
• Ariane Maurette

Possibly written as a homage to Marin Marais, the great master of the basse de viol who had recently passed away at the age of seventy-two, François Couperin’s Pièces de Violes, published in 1728, are today considered as one of the finest masterpieces of baroque chamber music and one of the absolute pinnacles of the viola da gamba repertoire, comparable in rank to J.S. Bach’s 3 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord.

Possibly written as a homage to Marin Marais, the great master of the basse de viol who had recently passed away at the age of seventy-two, François Couperin’s Pièces de Violes, published in 1728, are today considered as one of the finest masterpieces of baroque chamber music and one of the absolute pinnacles of the viola da gamba repertoire, comparable in rank to J.S. Bach’s 3 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord. It was in these mature works that the 60-year-old Couperin, in his love for the viola da gamba, captured as no other could in two masterly suites the essential registers of this instrument: from the elegiac lyricism of the Préludes to the unbridled virtuosity of the mysterious Chemise blanche, from the profound sadness and emotion of the Pompe funèbre to the exuberance and spirited elegance of the dance movements. As we listen to these pieces, we comprehend the full meaning of his motto: “I confess that I far prefer what moves me to what surprises me.” The phrase recalls that same opposition between being moved and being surprised that we find in the poem “Adonis” by his contemporary, the author of the Fables, Jean de la Fontaine: “Grace more beautiful than beauty itself.” For La Fontaine, beauty overwhelms and commands admiration, whereas grace subtly enters the soul and makes it resonate. Key definitions, in which these artists summed up their art, an art imbued with apparent simplicity, yet shot through with sadness and joy, each giving rise to the other and culminating in a language of soaring lyricism, which, like the purest water, flows free after being filtered through the sands of that eternal spring which is the soul of great artists.

+ information in the CD booklet

JORDI SAVALL
Bellaterra, first day of Autumn, 2012

Translated by Jacqueline Minett