Trevor Pinnock - Rameau: Les Cyclopes (2005)

Sensuousness is definitely a part of the French Baroque aesthetic, and there are more sensuous recordings of French Baroque music than this disc of Rameau harpsichord selections played by Trevor Pinnock -- try those of Sophie Yates. And it's François Couperin who was really foundational to the French Baroque keyboard style; Rameau was the radical tradition-stretcher. Yet this fine Pinnock disc can lay a strong claim to being the French Baroque disc you should buy if you're only going to buy just one. It offers an unimpeachable selection of Rameau's keyboard music, with the towering Suite in A minor from the Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (ca. 1728) surrounded by various shorter pieces including some durable Rameau hits: L'Enharmonique, Tambourin, and Les Cyclopes, among others. Within this 80 minutes of music are descriptive pieces that a child would appreciate (La Poule -- The Chicken) as well as pieces that take many hearings if one is to grasp their density of detail and profound musical architecture. If not sensuous, Pinnock is sinewy; his muscular, deliberate approach is well matched to the loud, powerful Parisian harpsichord of 1764 that he plays here, and he brings out every bit of glittering detail in this jewel-encrusted music. Pinnock writes some of the liner notes himself and ably conveys his enthusiasm for the repertory; other material in the booklet leads the listener into a pleasant initial exploration of the world of old harpsichords. The tuning of the harpsichord is the unfamiliar eighteenth century French unequal temperament; it may sound "out of tune" if you haven't heard it, but Pinnock guides you into the sound world so confidently that you'll soon forget all about it. Pinnock is not quite the dominant figure in historically informed performance that he was in his days at the head of the English Concert, but his skills are plainly undiminshed. Lovers of Rameau may have other favorites, but Pinnock is still an ideal public presenter of Baroque works. This disc will get anybody's attention, and it will successfully ensnare the hearer who is new to this music.