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Couperin: Concerts Royaux / Haynes, Haas, Napper

Release Date: 11/16/1999
Label: Atma Classique Catalog #: 2168 Spars Code: n/a
Composer:  François Couperin ,  Frank Corcoran Performer:  Bruce Haynes ,  Arthur Haas ,  Susie Napper Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo Length: 0 Hours 55 Mins.



COUPERIN Concerts royaux: No. 3; No. 7; No. 11. Prelude 5 in A. Pièces de Clavecin : Ordre 15 (selections) • Bruce Haynes (ob); Arthur Haas (hpd); Susie Napper (vdg) • ATMA 2168 (57:15)


I must say that this particular recording is a hard one to review. As stated on the front of the case, it is “en souvenir de Bruce Haynes,” the principal performer therein, and the entire disc was first released back in 1999 when it Read more was dedicated to his mother. Further reading shows that Haynes passed away earlier in 2011, so there is a certain sense of poignancy about this memento mori that makes the usual sort of review equivocal. How accessible this is, too, is a factor, since Atma Classique is hardly a label found in every record shop. It is nonetheless a vital part of oboist Haynes’s legacy to the world of music, an opus that, while not comprehensive in terms of contents, certainly demonstrates what we have lost in terms of performance practice on this instrument.


What I find fascinating is that here one can compare true historical instruments with their modern copies. In this case, the gamba is a 1703 model purportedly once owned by Arcangelo Corelli, while the harpsichord is a modern reproduction. The oboes, however, are an original 1700 Naust and a 1994 Hotteterre copy made by Olivier Cottet. Finally, Haynes painstakingly reproduced a reed, the speaking part of the instrument, from precise directions for one made by Pierre Bressan at the end of the 17th century. The result is the ability to compare old and new, giving a glimpse into, as Haynes says, the sound world of both. For my part, I can tell the difference. The modern copy speaks easily in such flowing dances as the Allemande of the G-Minor Concert or the grand Chaconne that ends that in A Major. To be sure, some of the higher notes speak with less ease and greater intensity (that is, they squeak a bit), but the sound throughout the registers is deep and throaty, sometimes bordering on the harsh. In comparison in those movements Haynes chose to use the original instrument, I find the sound penetrating but mellower, as if the entire instrument were voicing well-aged wood. In the Sarabande and Sicilienne of the G-Minor Concert , the quality is a bit gentler, almost lilting, while in the Rondeau of the C Minor and the jaunty Gavotte/Musette of the A Major, there is an ease that one notices in the way the notes blend. I suspect that when new, it would have sounded every bit as brash as the Cottet replica, a suitable instrument for the outdoors Écurie , but age has indeed mellowed it entirely.


As for the performances, both Haynes and harpsichordist Arthur Haas deliver sensitive and highly nuanced renditions. All of the sometimes tortuous ornamentation is carefully delineated, while Susie Napper’s gamba is extremely discreet, supporting but never emerging from the shadow of the two principals. Although one might suspect that historical museum practice was the driving force, such performance of François Couperin’s stylized dances fully places one in the polite society of the ancien régime , allowing a fine glimpse into that bygone and elegant age. If you do not already own the earlier release or if you can find this disc, you have or will have an important historical and musical work from this period, a must have if you want to know what it all really sounded like back then.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer
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