Andrew Appel - Couperin: Premier livre de pièces de clavecin, Premier Ordre (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

"For this recording, I have chosen Couperin at his most dramatic, powerful and often tragically brilliant. The Troisiême Ordre is a finely chosen selection of pieces in C minor and major. While Couperin may have had no specific overall architecture in mind for this selection, he is successful in offering us great variety, ranging from the classical theatricality of La Ténébreuse and the tender sighing of Les Regrets to the riotous clowning of Les Matelotes Provençales. Let us remember that when he gathered the music for his first book of harpsichord works, he was amassing selections from over 20 years of composing. This is truly a retrospective collection of harpsichord pieces."

Andrew Appel, Artistic Director of the Four Nations Ensemble, performs throughout Europe and the United States as soloist in many festivals including Italy’s Spoleto Festival, New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Redwoods Festival. In 2023 Appel was invited to join the performers at Music from Marlboro. As recitalist, Mr. Appel has performed at Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls in New York, as well as halls from the Music Academy of the West to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Along with his focus on The Four Nations Ensemble, he has been a guest artist of Chatham Baroque, the Smithsonian Players, and Orpheus. He serves as harpsichordist for opera companies and has toured with several European chamber orchestras. He has enjoyed critical acclaim for his solo recording of Bach works with Bridge Records as well as his fortepiano performances of Haydn for ASV. He and the Four Nations Ensemble presently record for Orchid Classical in London.

As a writer, Mr. Appel has written program notes and articles for presenters around the country including Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and National Public Radio. Mr. Appel has participated in discussions on education and chamber music programming at conferences of Chamber Music America, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and the New York State Council on the Arts. He has served as President of the Board of Trustees of Chamber Music America. He has been regularly praised for pre-concert talks that contextualize the music and open areas of discovery for the audience.

A native of New York City, Appel discovered the harpsichord at 14 and began lessons with Tim Read and Igor Kipnis. First-prize winner of the Erwin Bodky Competition in Boston, he holds an international soloist degree from the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp where he worked with Kenneth Gilbert and a Doctorate from the Juilliard School under Albert Fuller. There he has taught harpsichord and music history. Appel has also taught harpsichord, chamber music, music history and humanities courses at Moravian College, Princeton University, and New York Polytech, now a division of New York University.

Tracklist:
01. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 1, Allemande L’Auguste
02. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 2, Premier Courante
03. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 3, Seconde Courante
04. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 4, Sarabande La Majestueuse
05. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 5, Gavotte
06. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 6, La Milordine. Gigue
07. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 7, Menuet et double
08. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 8, Les Silvains
09. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 9, Les Abeilles
10. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 10, La Nanète
11. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 11, Les Sentiments. Sarabande
12. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 12, La Pastourelle
13. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 13, Les Nonètes
14. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 14, La Bourbonnoise. Gavote
15. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 15, La Manon
16. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 16, L’Enchantresse
17. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 17, La Fleurie ou La tendre Nanètte
18. Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin: Premier Ordre in G Minor & G Major: No. 18, Les Plaisirs de Saint Germain en Laÿe


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