In Hamburg – despite its superb keyboard collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe and its historic connection to the great harpsichord maker Zell & Hass families – high quality early-keyboard performance has long been surprisingly rare. All the more reason for the Elbphilharmonie’s recent “Cembalomania” series to feel overdue. With Ensemble Masques and Olivier Fortin opening the project, it quickly became clear that these core pillars of the French Baroque still offer vast expressive possibilities when given centre stage.
Fortin led from the keyboard with a warmth and attentiveness far beyond the usual continuo role. With the sensitivity of being accustomed to supporting singers, he created a gentle, radiant centre around which every exchange felt alive and conversational. His touch was relaxed yet precise, elastic and full of quick-witted energy. This was most striking in Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concert, especially Le Vézinet, where he brought the obbligato writing to life with vivid articulation and theatrical instinct. At times his decision to rely on a single 8' register felt slightly modest – two 8' stops might have given his support a firmer sonic weight – but the clarity and elegance of his approach more than compensated.
The interplay between Sophie Gent on Baroque violin and Lucile Boulanger on viola da gamba was a standout feature of the evening, especially across the contrasting worlds of Couperin and Rameau. In Couperin’s dance-derived Les Concerts Royaux, their phrasing was poised and elegant, with subtle improvisatory touches that enlivened the courtly refinement. In Rameau’s suites with enigmatic titles, they adopted a more theatrical, pictorial approach: musical lines leapt and conversed like actors in action, with bodily gestures and even the tactile resonance of bow and gut string adding colour and drama. Across both composers, their interplay was highly responsive and synergistic, producing a spatially vivid sound that suggested movement and presence within the music’s imagined space.
The Forqueray and Corrette pieces highlighted each solo instrument’s character. In Le Carillon de Passy, Boulanger’s expressive playing intensified its shadowy, unstable drama, occasionally overstated but in keeping with Forqueray’s temperament according to historical accounts. Corrette’s sonata, by contrast, radiated a sunnier, buoyant persona, showcasing the harpsichord and violin’s lighter, brighter qualities and offering a refreshing contrast.
By contrast, the traverso brought a gentler presence. Vicente Romero Carrilero’s tone was elegant, rounded, and sometimes a shade too restrained; in the first half it was occasionally covered by the more assertive timbres. Yet his contribution lent the ensemble a shimmering, golden veil, softening edges and adding warmth. In Couperin’s Concerts Royaux, especially the second suite after the interval, the flute’s subtle colours helped anchor the music in its courtly, refined world.
As an opening to “Cembalomania”, the performance radiated charm and authority in equal measure. It was a pity that this outstanding Friday-night Baroque chamber concert appeared only about two-thirds full, yet the audience included a remarkable cross-section of early keyboard music supporters: conservatory students, museum curators and local harpsichordists. Their presence, alongside the evident artistic passion of the organisers, offered hope that the harpsichord and its music may soon take their rightful place in the vibrant musical life of Hamburg.
