Orchestre de Picardie & Arie van Beek - Andriessen, Fauré, Ravel (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/48]

The goal of this recording is to celebrate French music through its past: its antique dances, its pastoral ambiences, its atmospheres of legend… starting with a homage to François Couperin. Often considered as the very quintessence of French musical art, this very great composer and harpsichordist succeeded in charming musicians from all times and places, even far removed from his personal universe. We know, for example, that Brahms held him in high esteem. Nearer to our own time, Hendrik Andriessen (1982-1981) – a major figure in Dutch music – borrowed a lovely melody from our composer (from La Basque, in the Second Book of Harpsichord Pieces), as the theme for a set of variations composed in 1944. Led by a tender and agile flute, accompanied by a harp and strings, the work discreetly evokes the rhythms of the
antique dances (the Sicilienne, the Chaconne, the Gavotte…) and also contains a ‘scholastic’ fugato; other more lyrical or meditative moments confer an intensity and even a nobility of expression on these charming ‘concert variations’ that make one regret the little reaction that Andriessen's music has suscitated outside of his own country.

Tracklist:
1. Arie Van Beek, François Garraud, Marcel Cara & Orchestre de Picardie – Variations sur un thème de Couperin (14:38)
2. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Pelléas & Mélisande, Op. 80: I. Prélude (06:14)
3. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Pelléas & Mélisande, Op. 80: II. Fileuse (02:27)
4. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Pelléas & Mélisande, Op. 80: III. Chanson de Mélisande (03:58)
5. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Pelléas & Mélisande, Op. 80: IV. La mort de Mélisande (04:25)
6. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a: I. Prélude (03:18)
7. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a: II. Forlane (05:45)
8. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a: III. Menuet (04:47)
9. Arie Van Beek & Orchestre de Picardie – Le Tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a: IV. Rigaudon (03:10)


Thanks to the Original customer!