Couperin sorted The 'Pièces de Clavecin', played in order of progressive difficulty - investigated by RON BIERMAN '... valuable for piano students.'

The eighteenth century French composer François Couperin loved the harpsichord and wrote hundreds of beautiful and affecting pieces for it. His keyboard style features highly ornamented melodies, usually set in straightforward binary or rondeau structures. Couperin was continuing a tradition that emphasized music's emotional impact and his range of moods is exceptional.

Performers have a tremendous variety of options in selecting pieces for a recital. Most of the works are short and no particular order of performance was intended even for works grouped for publication. Ray McIntyre, a teacher of piano and harpsichord, has taken advantage of this in an unusual way. He has selected forty five pieces which he performs primarily on the piano 'in order of progressive difficulty'. His purpose is 'to introduce the intermediate student ... to ... fundamental techniques of keyboard performance ...' This objective is accomplished. Articulation is clear in both hands. Ornaments are played with care. Moods and tempos are varied appropriately.

Continue >>

For help listening to the sound extracts here, please refer to our questions & answers page.