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| Composer | Bernard De Bury, Jean-Baptiste Barrière |
| Artist | Luca Quintavalle harpsichord |
| Format | 2 CD |
| Cat. number | 95428 |
| EAN code | 5028421954288 |
| Release | March 2017 |
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The output of Jean Barrière (1707-1747) largely focuses around his own instrument, the cello, for which he wrote several books of suites and sonatas that have received sporadic attention on record. His work for harpsichord alone is much less well-known, though hardly less stylish. Like his contemporaries Jacques Duphly and Jean-Phillippe Rameau, Barrière entitled one of his pieces La Boucon for Anne-Jeanne Boucon, who later married Jean-Joseph de Mondonville: she must have been a woman of enviable poise and dignified beauty to judge from the music written in her honour.
The first five of his six sonatas on this album are not French dance suites but transcriptions of Italian-inspired sonatas which he had originally composed for the smallest and highest instrument of the old family of viols, the pardessus de viole. The Italian influence can be traced in the bold and often unprepared dissonances which lend the sonatas both charm and unpredictable drama; the elaborate ornamentation, too, derives at least as much from the florid violin writing of Corelli and Geminiani as from the French harpsichord tradition.
Bernard de Bury is a figure whose music was lost to history until very recently, when in 2009 the scholar-musician Ruta Bloomfield transcribed these pieces from obscure manuscripts and gave them their first performances in modern times. De Bury (1720-1785) was born into a musical family in Versailles, and there he stayed to serve the court. There are four suites, which in the style of Rameau and Couperin describe with wit and tender affection characters from ancient mythology and the composer’s own time, with melodies almost buried beneath cascades of exquisite decoration. In his dedication, de Bury states that he was fifteen years old when he wrote the suites, though such precocious youth could not be guessed from the music itself, which is far from immature. This coupling is unique on record; only one previous recording of de Bury’s work is presently available.
This 2CD set present two French masters of the keyboard, sons of the French Enlightenment: Jean-Baptist Barrière (1707-1747) and Bernard de Bury (1720-1785). Both composers lived through an age in which the French culture absorbed many “foreign” elements, notably the Italian style of the Concerto-style (solo versus tutti), vocal Cantabile and instrumental brilliance.
Luca Quintavalle played with many leading Early Music ensembles such as Concerto Köln and Les Talents Lyriques. He recorded for Sony, DGG, Hyperion and DHM.
Scholarly written liner notes by the artist are included in the booklet.
press reviews:
EarlyMusic Review: “....this is virtuosic stuff. Luca Quintavalle is more than up for the challenge and even manages to sound as if he is enjoying himself. He sounds equally happy on the second disc.....the tremendous surge of the final Chaconne persuades me that I should bring out the barely deployed 5 Stars for the performance.”
MusicWeb-International.com “...This repertoire is served very well by Luca Quintavalle who delivers energetic and stylish performances. The brilliance of Barrières pieces and the different features of Bury's harpsichord works is convincingly conveyed. He plays a splendid instrument: a copy of a harpsichord by Pierre Donzelague of 1711. The mixing is just right: it reveals enough details without losing the overall picture... Considering the importance of the repertoire and the quality of music and interpretation this production deserves the label of Recording of the Month.”
RIVISTA-MUSICA: “ ....il giovane clavicembalista Luca Quintavalle, dotato di tecnica impeccabile e stilisticamente assai agguerrito. in grado, dunque di rendere appieno l’universo espressivo e l’impianto virtuosistico di non poche Sonate, tutte affrontate con notevole vigore ed esuberanza.......anche in questo caso (de Bury) Luca Quintavalle ha affrontato la non facile scrittura di questi lavori con la dovuta consapevolezza stilistica, brillante virtuosismo, fraseggi sempre ariosi e spontanei, ricca messe di abbellimenti, privilegiando un approccio generalmente energico e assertivo, senza però trascurare per questo le invenzioni più suggestive, delicate e vaporose: una prova, insomma, degna di particolare attenzione, tale da permettere una conoscenza più approfondita di due autori interessantissimi.” 4 STARS
FONO FORUM: “De Burys gefälliger Musik steht Luca Quintavalle Hang zum Vorwärtsspielen gut zu Gesicht. Die Extravaganz Barrières setzt er mit stürmischer Brillanz um, manchmal auch mit einer Lust am
Lärmen, die in der direkten Aufnahmecharakteristik deutlich zur Geltung kommt. Unterhaltsam erzählt Quintavalle so eines der letzten, durchaus abwechslungsreichen Kapitel der Cembalomusik” 4 STARS
ClicMusic.com: Interprétation étincelante (surtout dans Barrière) du jeune claveciniste italien Luca Quintavalle, sur une copie 2015 de clavecin Donzelague 1711, valorisée par une belle prise de son.
Minutage très généreux (2 CDs, presque 160’), livret instructif mais seulement en anglais. Amateurs de beau clavecin, vous serez emballés!
Dr. Bradley Lehman, American Record Guide: ”I don't expect this recording to be surpassed. Luca Quintavalle is brilliant at both these radically different French styles of harpsichord music. The performance has all the bravura and grace I could hope for.”
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