Captivating command and a striking Risser première from Jean Rondeau

By Nick Boston, 25 July 2018

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“I’d like to see anyone march at that pace!”

Reviewed at Cadogan Hall, London on 23 July 2018

Rameau, Pièces de clavecin, Book 1 – Prelude in A minor

Rameau, Pièces de clavecin, Book 3 – excerpts

Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, Book 1 – Sarabande ‘La lugubre’; Chaconne ‘La Favorite’

Royer, Pièces de clavecin, Book 1 – La sensible; La marche des Scythes

Risser, Furakèla (BBC commission: world premiere)

Jean Rondeau, Harpsichord

Dances without movement: Couperin reconsidered by Jean Rondeau

Mengguang Huang, 31st January

Jean Rondeau’s anniversary tribute to Louis Couperin reveals a refined but inward-looking aesthetic – beautifully controlled, yet ultimately lacking the rhetorical energy, physicality, and communicative spark essential to this music.

**111

In at the deep end for harpsichordist Jean Rondeau in Lucerne

Stephen Pritchard, 7th February

Lucerne’s new festival “Le Piano Symphonique” showcases the orchestral qualities of the piano... and the harpsichord, with a recital in what was once a swimming pool!

****1

Jean Rondeau illuminates La Chaux-de-Fonds with “Melancholy Grace”

Elodie Olson-Coons, 11th November

French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau’s showcase of late Renaissance music shines.

*****

Strangers in the night: Poulenc makes a rare visit to Paris

Mark Pullinger, 10th March

Corinna Niemeyer conducts the Orchestre de Paris, which had never played Poulenc's Concert champêtre before, and had only given one performance each of the Sinfonietta and Organ Concerto. Incroyable !

***11

Maurice Steger thrills with his virtuosic wizardry

Nahoko Gotoh, 3rd July

Maurice Steger brought this essential but under-represented instrument from Renaissance and Baroque chamber and ensumble music to a mainstream concert hall.

*****

Baroque’n’roll: Sunday morning with Jean Rondeau

Leopold Tobisch, 1st February

Jean Rondeau is now taking the French radio and concert halls by storm, quickly making a name for himself and his mastery of the harpsichord.

****1

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Nick Boston

Nick has an MA in Music, specialising in performance and repertoire. His particular passions are choral music, chamber music and opera, with a particular interest in early music. He sings in a number of choirs in the south east of England, plays the piano and occasionally dusts off the violin. He writes about music here.

Captivating command, and a striking première by Risser from Jean Rondeau