Pièces de clavecin
Michel
Kiener
Espagnol
Français
harmonia
mundi
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INTEGRAL TEXT pdf (free acrobat reeder)
Excerpts from the integral text (CD text): Jean-Philippe Rameau |
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Born in Geneva, Michel Kiener undertakes simultaneously
his piano and harpsichord studies at the local Conservatory of Music,
where he wins the price of virtuosity in both disciplines. Further on,
he attended improvement studies with Anneke Uittenbosch and Gustav
Leonhardt in Amsterdam. He was awarded the first price of the Brudges
International Harpsichord Contest in 1977. Hence forth, he is appointed
teacher at the Geneva Conservatory of Music. His
background both as a pianist and harpsichordist soon led him to approach
the late Baroque and Classical repertories on the pianoforte of XVIIIth
and XIXth centuries, and even on the clavichord. His eclecticism and passion for chamber music enabled him to share the stage in partnership with eminent artists issued from different generations, namely Pierre Fournier, Christophe Coin, Roel Dieltiens, Christine Busch, Jaap Schröder, Erich Höbarth, Sigiswald Kuijken, Ryo Terakado, Raphael Oleg, Gustav Leonhardt, Pierre Hantaï, Jan de Winne, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Sergio Azzolini; singers such as Marta Almajano, Jennifer Smith, Guillemette Laurens, François Le Roux; and the Kuijken and Mosaïques quartets. As a soloist, he performed with the ensembles Il Giardino Armonico, l’Ensemble Il Gardellino, The Moscou Soloists, and with the Suisse Romande, the Gulbenkian Endowment, the Münich Chamber, and the Württenberg orchestras.
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Jean-Philippe
Rameau
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A son of an organist at Dijon, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) receives from his father his only formal musical instruction. After a brief sojourn in Italy and a term as organist at Clermond-Ferrand he undertakes his first trip to Paris in 1706 where he publishes his first book for harpsichord been thirsty three years old. He then succeeds his father at Notre Dame de Dijon and shortly after he became appointed organist at Lyon. In 1715 he returned to his former position at Clermont-Ferrand; here he wrote his Traité de l’Harmonie (Treatise of Harmony), which he published in 1722. He returned to Paris in 1723, at the age of forty. The Parisian public then thought of Rameau mostly as a scholar, a philosopher, a wise man, but by no means as a composer. Moreover, due to his being tart and isolated, Rameau revealed unfit to courtly life. He would first become acknowledged by the public once he devoted entirely to opera composition, not before he was fifty. But, at the same time he will find himself involved in quarrels, assailed by his detractors for his being an innovator. No other musical personality could be so closely related to the ideas of the XVIIIth century French Enlightenment; no one so fully embodies its inner intellectual character. Within an era in which Nature was believed to be ruled by a rational order and mechanic principles, Rameau’s greatest accomplishment was to expose the empirical bias of musical practice in terms of a natural principle based on Cartesian models: the fundamental bass. Certainly not just pure reason not even pure
hearing experience! Rameau shows that “his method” is a true dialectic
of theory and practice. He conceives music as a body of empirical evidence
and he discovers, by means of analysis, constants which are liable to be
clarified through hypothetic statements: fundamental bass, fundamental
generator, the seventh as the source of all dissonances, fundamental
progression of the fifth… Could
a philosopher, who so astoundingly discourses on intervals and such
principles, be capable of creating practical music? Rameau’s music strongly reflects his concern about harmony and its natural basic principles. His melody is subordinated to harmonic progressions. His
harpsichord music
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Rameau imposes to the keyboard a novel virtuosity which relies not only upon new technical resources, that Rameau considers same times of his own invention, but also on colour and orchestral effects that go beyond the reach of the harpsichord’s inner qualities. Embodied with the ideals of French aesthetics he conceives instrumental music in terms of ballet, opera and extra-musical representations. Rameau’s
originality with respect to his fellow composers, particularly evident in
his second and third books, resides in his endeavour to extend the
boundaries of the harpsichord, considering it as an instrument of highly
sustaining power. Most of Rameau’s harpsichord music, except for a few pieces originally written as ensemble music and further transcribed for the harpsichord, comes from the anonymous period spent before the stage performance of his first opera in 1733. The harpsichord became Rameau’s alchemist crucible where he experimented toward the final attainment of the technical and expressive resources of his musical language. Beside the enormous bulk of Rameau’s output in the field of the opera, cantata and motet, his harpsichord music may appear a slender legacy deprived of any true musical significance. Notwithstanding, it foreshadows the greatness of the dramatic power deployed by Rameau in his operas. In the early years of the XVIIIth century two main types of harpsichord pieces existed in France. Namely: dance pieces, reminders of the pleasure of dancing with entertainment goals, and genre pieces (musical painting), whose musical appeal resided in evocative sighs of persons, objects, events or situations. They did not represent watertight compartments, but dance pieces often bore hinting titles or names and genre pieces were often written in dance rhythm. The
Three Books for harpsichord
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The Premier livre de pièces de clavecin (First book of pieces for harpsichord) (1706) stands at the boundary of a tradition : the leadership of the suite in France. It contains no genre but only dance pieces, none of them bearing a name. It opens with a remain of the past : a Prélude non mesuré (bar less Prelude). This kind of toccata – like prelude, depicting the lutenists extemporized music was created by Louis Couperin. The structure of the pieces within this recueil is less developed than that of the further ones, but Rameau’s personality filters through the dramatic character of them. CD1 1 - Prélude - composed
in two parts : a bar less first one and a second one in 12/8 like an
Italian style gigue
(in
equal note values).
2 - Allemande - grave, because of its notation in sixteenth notes and its
dramatic character. 3 - 2e
Allemande - it is an outgrowth of the previous one, but on a
lighter character due to its notation in eights notes. 4 - Courante – is in luthé style; it foreshadows the analogous pieces in the third book. 5 - Gigue - audaciously
sweeps across the keyboard. It echoes the Prélude
in the last ten bars, but nuanced by a refined lyricism. 6 - Sarabande -
is essentially melodic ; it contrasts with the second one, which is
mainly rhythmic, in an allemande
– courante
linkage fashion. 7 - 2e Sarabande - despite the two Allemandes,
the
two Sarabandes have no thematic link. The second one is majestic
and mostly rhythmic because of its notation pointée
à la française. 8 - Vénitienne -
reveals its « Rameau-style » character in its second section.
Girdlestone associates its mood with that of the barcarolle
and suggests a tempo moderato in
order to accurately render its cantabile
proper to chansons de gondolieri. 9 - Gavotte
- features
Rameau’s pesonal style and is the forerunner of la Livri (Pièces de
Clavecin en Concert). 10 - Menuet - alike
the two Sarabandes,
it is a remain of the past which does not reflect the Rameau mature of his
second and third books. Rameau’s second book, headed Pièces de
Clavecin was published in 1724 (reissued in 1731) a year after
Rameau’s return to Paris. Aged forty, he had written several motets and
secular cantatas, alike his Traité de l’Harmonie (Treatise of
Harmony). By that time suite form had been already banned from
repertory; nevertheless, Rameau continues to group his harpsichord
compositions by tonality: ten in E and ten in D. Except for eight dances,
they are mostly genre pieces, saved for Le Lardon which
shares both categories. From then on, Rameau’s harpsichord pieces, among
which several were issued from previous casts written for the Fairy
Theatre (Théâtre de la Foire), will occur in his operas. The pieces
contained here belong to two different forms: binary and rondo form. Suite in E11 & 12 - Allemande
and Courante - belong to
the binary form. They are rather conservative in structure and style alike
their analogues in the first book. 13 - Gigue en Rondeau - fashioned
in two couplets
like most of Rameau’s rondos. 14 - 2e Gigue en rondeau -
despite
the previous one, this is structured in three couplets ;
they are both Italian style gigues
written in equal note values. 15 - Le Rappel des Oiseaux
(The Birds Recall) - this is Rameau’s first genre piece. The descriptive effect of
the forth up leap, which recalls the blaring of the clarion, constitutes
the « the recall of the birds». Rameau embodies a colouristic
effect to the piece thanks to the holding up of the harmony letting the
resolution to be desired. 16 - 1er, 2e Rigaudon and Double – this typically French dance has been inserted in the
ballet de cour by Lulli. Certain simplicity of structure and style draws
these pieces near those of the first book. 17 - Musette en Rondeau - "musette" depicts the bagpipe. This is a bucolic (partoral)
piece which was also added to the dance suite by Lulli. It is fashioned in
three couplets,
but they were farther on reduced to two to be inserted in act III of Les Fêtes d'Hébé. 18 - Tambourin (The Drum)
- it is through composed and, so to speak, monothematic. After the third couplet, the refrain
comes back slightly modified. It will be found later in act III of Les Fêtes d'Hébé.
19 - La Villageoise (The
Citizen) - a genre
title very often found as so its opposite
La Paysanne (The Peasant). Its mood is merry and light, almost
tender. It shows a thematic unity between refrain and couplets. Suite in D
20 - Les Tendres Plaintes (The
Tender Grievances)
- a
frequent genre title which points out its character and tempo.
Rameau here yields to the quietness and meditative contemplation. He will
further insert it as Air tendre en rondeau, air of Amélite,
in act I of Zoroastre. 21 - Niais de Sologne and
Doubles (The
Fools of Sologne)
- is a
variation piece. It has a country side mood thanks to its drone bass and
its melody depicting the vielle. It recalls the proverb: “Fool of
Sologne who mistakes but for his own profit ». It was said that the
Solonians (from Sologne, a swampy region south to Paris) had foolish and
stupid look and manners, but that they were canning and acute. The piece
was further inserted in act III of Dardanus. 22 - Les Soupirs (The
Sighs) -
is a genre piece which represents the sighs, here depicted by the
syncopated eighth notes and an ornament called suspension. The latter
compels the note that bears it to enter delayed from the bass, thus
allowing it to be cravingly desired and expected. On long notes, the
effect is even intensified by the addition of a trill. 23 - La Joyeuse (
The Joyful) - is
a genre piece. The title suggests its tempo. 24
- La Follette (The Crazy)
- is a genre
piece. It is an Italian style gigue (in equal note values). The
long lasting mordents, alternated between right and left hands, could
suggest the craze. 25 - L'Entretien des Muses
(The
Muses’ Appointment)
- is
a descriptive and very lyric piece, which reflects Watteau paintings. It
is written so that both hands remain close to each other in the tender
register of the harpsichord. It quiet mood depicts what would be the Muses
conversation in their dwell. It was further inserted in act II of
Rameau’s opera Les Fêtes d'Hébé.
26 - Les Tourbillons (The
Swirls) -
is a descriptive piece of the « whirls of dust while been swirled by
the strong winds » - says Rameau in a letter to Houdar de la Motte.
It is a tour de force of virtuosity in which the batteries range
over more than two octaves. 27 - Les Cyclopes (The
Cyclops) - descriptive
piece depicting the gods forgers of the thunderbolt. Its eruptive and
theatrical character foreshadows the cataclysms of the Tragédies Lyriques. It is a representative of the novel virtuosity that Rameau bestows to the
harpsichord. Two main types of batteries can be found in this piece: one
in which both hands alternate to strike the keys like drum sticks, and the
other the left hand overlaps the right one. Rameau candidly boasts of its
invention while ignoring that Scarlatti had created them independently. 28 - Le Lardon (The
Bacon) -
is a descriptive culinary piece. The left hand fingers intersperse between
the chords of the right hand like a slice of bacon. It is a slender piece
compared with the virtuous ones or those deeply meditative. 29 - La Boiteuse (The
Lame) -
is a descriptive piece. The rhythm in the left hand (quarter note, eighth
note) suggests the limpness. CD-2
Rameau’s third book,
headed Nouvelles
Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (New Suites of pieces for Harpsichord) hold within pieces of a grater span and deeper passions than the ones
in the other two recueils. They are “among the greatest” according to Girldestone. Rameau’s
third book for harpsichord steps forward towards the harmonic fulfilment.
Repeated chord and arpeggio textures stand to reinforce harmony and its
generating character. The writing is now closer to that of the piano-forte
where counterpoint is almost banished. 1 - Allemande - is
fashioned upon the Allemandes of the first book ; it has the
serious character of the first one of them. However, it embodies the
dramatic tone colour of the Rameau mature of the third book. 2 - Courante - in
A minor. It owes its majestic flavour to the perfect match of artistic
craftsmanship and emotional strength it is endowed with. Virtuosity and
rationalism here merge freely. Its magic resides in the multiplicity of
simultaneous rhythms, of running scales, of up and down leaping arpeggios,
and long sustaining notes underneath of which the piercing motif is
omnipresent. 3 - Sarabande - reveals
a greater passion compared with the analogous pieces in the first book. It
echoes the aria Tristes Apprêts from Castor
et Pollux. Rameau
later inserted it in act III of Zoroastre. 4 - Les Trois Mains (The
Three Hands) - is
a descriptive piece. The ranging of the register (four octaves and a half),
the overlapping of the hands, and the up and down leaps from one side to
the other of the keyboard give the illusion that three hands take place in
the playing. 5 - Fanfarinette - is
a genre
piece.
Possible allusion to Fanfan la Tulipe or to « boaster» ( ?).
The writing (repeated figure of three quarter notes with a trill written
over the middle one) could also suggest the sound of fanfare. It could be
a little fanfare which precedes the greater one of La Triomphante. 6 - La Triomphante (The
Triumphant) - is
a genre piece. The arpeggios and up and down leaps of an octave,
culminated by a trill followed with a cadence recall the themes from
fanfares. 7 - Gavotte with six
doubles -
together with Les Niais de Sologne
from the second book, are the only two variation forms in the whole
Rameau’s work for harpsichord. The theme recalls French lute music.
Rameau here deploys for the first time orchestral resorts coming out from
the new concerto style, namely swift scales in the manner of tirades
before cadences. The succession of both hands in imitation in the forth double is also a typically newly introduced rococo figure. 8 - Les Tricotets (The
Weavings) -
is a descriptive piece. Allusion to the dance thus named because of the
rapid movements of the feet here depicted by the hands which interweave (the
visualisation of the score yields no doubt).
9 - L’Indifférente
(The
Indifferent) -
is a very frequent genre title. It used to be a personage of the Fairy
Theatre from where a first cast of the piece would come. It recalls
the dreamer and superfluous look of L’Indifférent by Watteau.
10 - Deux
Menuets -
the first one was later inserted in the prologue of Castor et Pollux. 11 - La Poule
(The Hen) - seems to be mono-thematic. It is
based on a brief clucking theme which reveals Rameau’s intention to
depict Nature. The inscription of co co co co co co co daï
underneath the first appearance of the clucking theme, certainly a
Rameau’s nonsense, could lead to the wrong belief of a derisive effect.
All but a superfluous jest! The development of the clucking theme shows,
through its permanent tension and relief interplay, the dramatic
seriousness of the piece. The clucking theme, which completes its harmony
in waves as it is customary in Rameau’s style, comes back, footed fort,
in every climatic passage. Thus, it relentlessly returns to appease the
tension with its centralizer effect. 12 - Les Triolets (The
Triplets) –
the title possibly makes allusion to the omnipresent ternary rhythm. Its
character resembles that of L’Indifférente.
13 - Les Sauvages (The
Savages) -
issued from the Danse des Deux Indiens de la Louisiane (Dance of
Two Indians of Lousiana) written by Rameau for the Fairy Theatre
in 1725; later become a harpsichord piece and farther on the Danse du
Calumet de la Paix (Dance of the Peace Pipe ?) in Les
Indes Galantes. It soon became a popular tune. 14 - L’Enharmonique (The Enharmonic) - twice
along the second section Rameau inserts new thematic material endowed with
the harmonic change to which he largely refers to in the foreword: the diesis
enharmonica or quarter tone between the diatonic half tone (B-C) and
the chromatic half tone (B-B#) that he even imposes to modulations. Michel
Kiener’s interpretation renders in an unquestionable accuracy the
psychological effect of enharmonic sought by Rameau and declared in the
preface as of to enlighten the touché and to hold little by little
the “Coulez whilst approaching the seizing point where one must
remain for a while” as it is pointed out by a fermata in bar 12
of the reprise. 15 - L’Egyptienne (The
Egyptian) - is
a descriptive piece of Rameau’s utterance while seen the dance of a
gypsy. This Egyptian, alike those in Molière’s plays, has nothing of
oriental but she is just a gypsy. 16 - La Dauphine (The Daulphin) - in 1747, twenty years after the coming out of his third book, Rameau was compelled to write a slender piece devoted to the occasion of the Dolphin’s weeding with Maria Josepha de Sajonia. Rameau balanced the lacking of inspiration with the virtuosity he bestowed to the piece. La Dauphine was kept by Decroix and further handed out by his heirs to the Paris National Library. It was first published by Camile Saint Saëns in 1895. Around 1760, Rameau’s harpsichord music, as well as
his operas, began to be neglected. When Chabanon pronounced Rameau’s
eulogy in 1765, a year after Rameau’s death, it was hardly played.
Chabanon deplored this injustice and praised the virtues of Rameau’s
music which, according to him, combined with a captivating charm two
qualities seldom found in music: “chant” and “execution”… Excerpts
from the integral text by Jorge Cova.
Whole version Glossaire de termes spécifiques
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