Concerts Royaux
Couperin composed these delectable works in 1714 and 1715 for the Louis XIV's Sunday chamber music concerts. When they were published in 1722, he specified the instruments employed in those concerts without indicating how they're used in each of the 25 movements in these four suites. Jordi Savall has taken his cue from Couperin's open-ended particulars to allot lead voices and parts to fit each movement's character, with marvelous results. The music ranges stylistically from lugubrious Preludes to court dances and folk-inspired tunes. Savall and his outstanding players make this graceful music irresistible, finding in it not only courtly elegance but also unexpected expressiveness, as in the melancholy opening Preludes and elsewhere. Everyone will have their own favorite tracks (movements) to return to as "encores" after the disc ends, but be warned: it's hard not to continue on to the next track, and then the next, till you've played the disc through again. This is one of those "don't-miss-this-one" discs. Enjoy!--Dan Davis