Christophe Rousset, Bach French Suite No.1 BWV 812

[@phpn99]

Twenty years ago, I thought Rousset lacked stamina as a player, but I've since grown up. I particularly enjoy how he opens up these bars of music as if they say the light of day for the first time. This was a skill of Leonhardt and Gilbert as well.

[@hugoclarke3284]

I think he feels how the music is supposed to be played and strikes the right balance between punctual precision and flowing elegance.

[@VERITS99]

I agree. When I first listened to him playing with Hogwood, I thought he was banal. But he has changed (or is it I who changed?) His style reminds me of Kenneth Gilbert (especially his use of the French chamber pitch A= 392Hz.)

[@mtv565]

Excellent playing! The tone of this harpsichord is also sublime and beautiful! Not too harsh or dull.

[@herrickinman9303]

What you attribute to "the tone of this harpsichord" is largely the result of the lively room acoustics (like an echo chamber) and, to a lesser extent, the result of the harpsichordist holding notes over.

[@danyiluska]

Monsieur Rousset is fantastic!!! Excellent playing and ornaments. Guys, the fantastic sound is largely depends on the recording too (placing of mics)!

[@alexanderbrown1954]

Beautiful, stylish playing! The sound of this harpsichord is simply gorgeous!

[@harpsichordval4614]

Alexander Brown You are always welcome, Alexander !

[@jonahreynolds7458]

That sounds like the opposite of you.

[@mtv565]

Agreed. The tone of this harpsichord is sublime and beautiful! Not too harsh or dull.

[@alessandrocolagrossi9571]

0:00 allemanne 4:08 courante 6:13 sarabande 9:09 menuets 11:37 gigue

[@HarpsichordM]

Alessandro Colagrossi Thank you very much, Alessandro !

[@alessandrocolagrossi9571]

HarpsichordM i love bach music's

[@harpsichordval4614]

Alessandro Colagrossi Thank you very much Alessandro !

[@haanashim]

THANK YOU!!!

[@arturozeballos1]

In several respects, Christophe Rousset gives a well-balanced performance of Bach's French Suites. He finds a balance between a straightforward, technical reading and a more expressive one that takes liberties with timing and ornamentation. He brings out themes with a lyric sensibility, and he acknowledges the importance of countermelodies and the interaction of musical lines. The Sarabande of the Suite No. 6 is full of ornamentation, yet Rousset can still bring out a melody with a sense of forward direction that isn't interrupted by the ornaments. The Gigue of the Suite No. 5 is technically brilliant and musically delightful as all of the various parts come together in a lively manner. The instrument is a restored eighteenth century one with a sound that is not harshly brassy, but it is also not so delicate that livelier movements become wilted versions of what they should be. It has a resonance that helps Rousset make melodies sing. The sound of the recording adds to the quality of the performance. It is close, rich, and loud enough that the volume does not have to be way up in order for the instrument to be heard clearly.

[@jonahreynolds7458]

#nerd

[@chrisbrown3549]

arturo zeballos oh. Well i thought it sounded well myself.

[@herrickinman9303]

@@chrisbrown3549 "It sounded good," not "it sounded well." "Sounded" is a linking verb. You're describing the performance ("it"), so an adjective ("good") is required.

[@hugoclarke3284]

Great review

[@samanpeiro9060]

Thank you, Excellent.

[@josephnicholson5780]

I would have to agree with what several previous commentators have alluded to. The playing and sound are both superb. I know little about christoph russet, but he is clearly a gifted harpsichordist. He is , as another critic remarked, a " modern day Gustav leonhardt."

[@felixnauta]

Thank you very much for uploading these magical pieces of music!

[@jonahreynolds7458]

Oh yeah sorry to refresh you magic isn't real.

[@vilebrequin6923]

​@jonahreynolds7458 open your ears!

[@viewernum72]

Love this.

[@maryfauque8611]

Salut Ria!❤

[@123Albert1964]

Amazing performance !!! I am delighted!!!

[@alvarogarciabarbosa3199]

Music, real Music in the Castle of Heaven: Sir J.E. Gardiner dixit. No doubt at all.

[@isezakicho66]

Great!!!!

[@harpsichordval4614]

You are always welcome, Ise !

[@CyprienDisperati]

Merci pour cette interprétation! :)

[@Alaedious]

Extraordinary! 😍😍😍

[@snowcarriagechengcheng-hun3454]

Thanks for uploading!

[@meowzer999]

Luminous, lovely

[@jonahreynolds7458]

Just like the moon.

[@michaelmiller1215]

Glorious

[@khoojlyn]

thank you!

[@tomfurgas2844]

Bravo!

[@gordon5533]

Gracias Bach.

[@Alaedious]

I actually like this allemande even more in C- minor! 😍😍😍

[@taylordiclemente5163]

It's tuned to a lower reference pitch than the modern standard.

[@herrickinman9303]

It's being played in D minor at "French chamber pitch" aka "deep chamber pitch." (a=~392Hz) That was the pitch standard in French and German courts in Bach's time. French chamber pitch was the result of new wind instrument designs from the late 17th century. No one is born with ears tuned to A440. A440 did not become a standard until the 1950s, and then only after decades of lobbying by American wind instrument builders.

[@PP-hh5rh]

Grazie!

[@herrickinman9303]

Why does this recording sound like the harpsichord has a sustaining pedal that the performer never releases? Maybe the mic is so close to the instrument that it's picking up sympathetic vibrations from strings that are not even being played.

[@SrPeemeele]

AN excellent interpretation. It is curios but I feel this allemande with a nostalgic feeling and a little erotic touch.

[@ferdinangenius]

this is high maths of the uttermost beauty

[@jonahreynolds7458]

You have the biggliest of words. #Donald Trump Quote

[@alessandrocolagrossi9571]

c minor? why?

[@jawadhamadani8647]

Alessandro Colagrossi cuz back in the baroque era the tuning was different, so usually harpsichords are traditionaly tuned in the same way.

[@stephaniechen6598]

Jawad Hamadani thanks

[@herrickinman9303]

It's being played in D minor at "French chamber pitch" aka "deep chamber pitch." (a=~392Hz) That was a common pitch standard in French and German courts in the Late Baroque. French chamber pitch was the result of new wind instrument designs that originated in the late 17th century. No one is born with ears tuned to A440. A440 didn't become a standard until the 1950s, and then only after decades of lobbying by American wind instrument builders.

[@philipkimber4403]

I would prefer some inégalité in the Allemande. The music just cries out for a slight lilt!

[@panutalus]

doesn't this use different tuning than 440hz? It sounds a lot better.

[@taylordiclemente5163]

Yes, it's tuned lower, and more importantly it is tempered slightly unequally, meaning the intervals between consecutive semitones are not all the same.

[@gergokovacs3332]

to be precise tuning is called well temperament. this means that each key has its own color, in contrast to equal tempetament where all key has the same tone color. Trevor Stephenson has a fantastic video about how to tune Bach age temperament.

[@herrickinman9303]

@@gergokovacs3332"Well temperament" is a general term for various keyboard temperaments that became popular in Bach's time and replaced meantone temperaments. A temperament is any tuning system that slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation in order to satisfy other aesthetic requirements. Temperament has nothing to do with reference pitch. You could have a well-tempered keyboard tuned to A465, A440, A415, A392 or any other reference pitch.

[@herrickinman9303]

The instrument is tuned to French chamber pitch aka deep chamber pitch. This is a half tone lower than chamber pitch, and a minor 3rd lower than choir pitch aka organ pitch. All these pitch standards were used in Bach's time. French chamber pitch was prevalent in noble and royal courts in France and Germany in the Late Baroque.

[@wcsxwcsx]

Was that gigue really a gigue? Something doesn't sound right.

[@harpsichordval4614]

wcsxwcsx Yes it is gigue !!!!! Try to listen to another performers: Andras Schiff, Zuzana Ruzickova, etc.........

[@kenbusch2139]

+wcsxwcsx A reasonable question. Rousset takes this at a somewhat slow speed and Bach notates this movement in 4/4 rather than the usual 6/8. The dotted rhythms make it like other, more conventionally notated gigues. (There've been debates, too, about what exactly dotted notes mean for Bach. Are they sometimes like triplets? Are they sometimes to be double-dotted?) It also has a quasi fugal character (again like other gigues) where it begins with one voice and then other voices enter. A final marker is that the theme is turned upside down at the double bar. Bach does this in every gigue I can think of from the Partitas, French Suites, and English Suites, and doesn't in the other movements in his suites.

[@tomfurgas2844]

+wcsxwcsx It's a rare slow-moving form, heavy on the dotted rhythms. Almost all other gigues are in 6/8, 12/8, or other triple rhythm. This kind is in 4/4. I don't think Bach used this form of gigue anywhere else.

[@renematei708]

It is allabreve though... so it should be fast

[@tomfurgas2844]

@@renematei708 As with many other keyboard works of Bach, the florid figuration, usually in the latter part of each section, acts as a caution to keep the tempo moderate. Otherwise the figuration or ornamentation will sound blurred or "tossed off". Many modern players perform Bach at much too lively tempi. Bach always stressed the "singing style" of playing. One cannot "sing" properly if the tempi are rushed.

[@bouyhos]

11:37

[@VERITS99]

Is he playing with A = 392 Hz?

[@violaoale]

VERITS99 how did you come to that?

[@VERITS99]

violaoale Well, because the instrument sounds a half tone lower than the usual Baroque pitch (A = 415 Hz,) i.e., a full tone lower than the modern pitch (A = 440 Hz.)

[@violaoale]

VERITS99 yeah. i see.

[@jonahreynolds7458]

What are those.

[@herrickinman9303]

Yes. The instrument is tuned to French chamber pitch aka "deep chamber pitch," which was prevalent in the noble and royal courts of France and Germany in the Late Baroque.

[@chrisbrown3549]

Im craving wine and a fine lady...any takers ?😉

[@陽天-g8g]

上手ない。

[@jonahreynolds7458]

This is what I call boring crap that I am only listening to because my piano teacher forced me to.

[@ReubenLL28]

Why are you publically announcing the fact that you're uncultured?

[@jawadhamadani8647]

ReubenLL28 thank you

[@richardcleveland8549]

Well, there's always hope: Mark Twain observed, "When I was 18, I was appalled by my father's stupidity, but when I reached the age of 21, I was astonished at how smart the old man had grown in just three years!" So, perhaps over time the reluctant student will learn not only to like Bach, but to play his works.

[@stephaniechen6598]

Lol same

[@Coco_EC]

Listen, we don't care, so stop being stupid commenting shit everywhere