Rating: 5/5
Review:
Fantastic Rameau
This is a fantastic recording of some of the greatest French
baroque works. Rameau wrote some
magnificent works for the harpsichord; they are musically inventive, varied and
immensely pleasurable to listen to when this well played.
Mahan Esfahani is now well established as one of the world's
foremost harpsichord players, and on this evidence you can see why. His technique is fantastic, so that even the
trickiest passages sound natural and effortless, and he lends real meaning to
Rameau's music – which isn't always easy on a harpsichord. His tone is lovely and he has – to my ears
anyway – an ideal approach to phrasing, using enough rubato to shape each
phrase and give it meaning without ever overdoing it.
Credit must also go to Hyperion (as so often) for the
recorded sound. Esfahani's harpsichord
has a lovely, rich tone which is beautifully captured on these discs and makes
them a pleasure to listen to. I have
dearly-loved recordings of Rameau's keyboard music by Christophe Rousset on the
harpsichord and both Angela Hewitt and Alexandre Tharaud on the piano, all of
which are quite wonderful in their different ways. This stands with them and is a very welcome
addition which will give me pleasure for years to come. Very warmly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment