François Couperin - La Piémontoise, Les Nations No. 4 (1726) (Jordi Savall)

[@Cmaj7]

I've uploaded my engraving of this gorgeous piece to IMSLP: imslp.org/wiki/Les_Nations_%28Couperin,_Fran%C3%A7ois%29#La_Pi.C3.A9montoise_.28No.4.29 I especially adore the Gravement at 2:51 and the Sarabande at 15:22 UPDATE: I have updated the score (current version 1.1) with corrections

[@Krisha991]

Divine music 💔

[@natheniel]

The white notation is /*chef’s kiss/*

[@marcocampus7943]

Notes inegales

[@Cmaj7]

@@marcocampus7943 It's unrelated to notes inégales. In the second gravement, the white noteheads have a direction to play equally. Also, a section of the second dessus was originally written with black noteheads (which I changed to white for consistency). It wouldn't make sense for this to mean one part plays equal quarters while the other plays unequal.

[@martineslava8642]

This entire Les Nations album is a true gem. Otherworldly.

[@ninjaassassin27]

The blending of these performers, down to the last ornament, is perfect. What an amazing recording.

[@David-ri2uc]

The trills and the syncopations, pure beloved extravagance.

[@valerieheinderyckx4506]

Prodigieux... Merci infiniment.

[@JohnLeonardMusic1]

The use of hollow note heads is a beautiful and artistic engraving choice

[@Steinwaytoday]

They play this music with such devotion. Really beautiful!

[@pocketsymph]

Thanx a lot CMaj7! specially for engraving score & parts and markes misprints in 1726 ed,. 👍👍👍

[@kevinarthurjr4006]

This is pulling on my heartstrings 😭

[@jodikirsh]

Saved to my favorites! Invaluable.

[@cadenzalien4554]

yo that's some very nice engraving actually, congrats :D also, I never heard this before, and I think it is the most beautiful thing I've heard all week

[@Cmaj7]

:D

[@alenschi2923]

Stupendo, non lo conoscevo questo brano

[@bluefunkybassman]

The sound quality of this recording is truly excellent!

[@typicallyvillainous1119]

wow! never heard this piece before, the texture is really fascinating! good work :)

[@hectorserna7950]

Dude, the engraving is awesome! I need to play this with my group.

[@Cmaj7]

Thanks! I hope you do play it

[@Cmaj7]

FYI I uploaded a new version to IMSLP with a few corrections

[@miguelykaris7869]

Thanks so much to you!

[@MrTacoKingMC]

any historical context to the minim looking hollow notation in this?

[@Cmaj7]

I couldn't find much information on it. It seems like it was only used in the French baroque for 3/2

[@martineslava8642]

Pretty trippy sometimes but a pleasure to play from!

[@michelefilippi9820]

13:12 awesome

[@mrsnooz1]

The notation! Weird but make sense! Did he write like this?

[@Cmaj7]

A lot of Couperin scores have the white notehead notation. I do rather like it; beaming gives a sense of connectedness

[@cr8207]

@@Cmaj7 how do you tell at a glance the difference between crotchets and minums?

[@robhaskins]

This is lovely. Any chance you may be able to upload the others, or just La Francoise?

[@Cmaj7]

Yup, they're definitely on my to-do list!

[@robhaskins]

@@Cmaj7 😍

[@winsomelau6188]

4:58. Omg

[@steffen5121]

Was this considered "modern" at its time?

[@aymerichm8835]

I'm not the most qualified person to answer but I'd say "modern" wasn't a very common idea at the time, at least for music (there was however an important "querelle des anciens et des modernes" in literature in the previous decades, where "modern" was opposed more to ancient Greeks and Romans than to older French styles). "Fashionable" and "original" would probably be more suited terms for 18th century listeners. Couperin was regarded highly enough to be called "le grand" (although I'm not sure when this nickname was first used, and it was mostly to distinguish him from other members of his family). Also, he was eager to mix french and Italian tastes, the former being increasingly criticized as too conservative and elitist and the latter being praised as more "natural" by many French listeners of the time, a debate that can also be viewed from the point of view of the opposition between the aristocracy and the more and more powerful bourgeoisie. In this regard, Couperin was more trying to achieve a middle-ground between "modern" Italianate and traditional French fashions... I'm not sure as to whether he succeeded because I can't hear much of Italian characteristics in his music but that's a personal feeling...

[@steffen5121]

@@aymerichm8835 Interesting answer. I take, that this piece of music was probably not old-fashioned at its time.

[@avremke24]

This is a wonderful composition, but the first violinist used too much vibrato for my personal taste.