I
discovered the two French HMV discs which provided these delightful recordings
in a "car boot" sale - or "vide grenier"here in our little French village - they were literally stuck in a
box of old records piled in the back of a car, yet were in immaculate
condition. Here we have a rare husband and wife musical team - the legendary
Paul Tortelier (above), surely one of the greatest cellists of
all time, together with his wife Maud made a fabulous musical duo. As
yet we've been unable to put a precise date on these recordings, but from
the sound quality our best guess is late-1940's.
Couperin
(1668-1733) needs little introduction - the master of the French baroque,
he was known in his own lifetime as "François Couperin
le Grande", and was part of a French musical family to match
that of Bach in Germany. Despite his greatest fame coming as a writer
of keyboard music, it is evident in the Concerto presented here that his
compositional skills were broad-ranging, with fine contrapuntal sequences,
fugal entries and wonderful interplay between the two instruments. The
short extra piece by Couperin in this set, rather bizarrely entitled "Le
Je-Ne-Scay-Quoy", is offered below as a free download. On the original
discs this filled up half a side after the end of the Concerto.
Felice
de Giardini (1716-1796) is a far more obscure figure, with little
of his music surviving in the recorded repertoire. De Giardini was a well
known violinist, composer and director. He sang as a choir boy in Milan,
Italy, and studied music in Turin. In the 1730s, he began playing the
violin in orchestras, and toured Europe in the 1750s. He then moved from
Italy to London where he was involved with the opera. He also worked as
music master for the Duke of Gloucester. In 1796, de Giardini moved to
Moscow, but died in poverty shortly after. Both of the two short pieces
offered here are utterly delightful and it's not hard to understand why
they were chosen for this recording: PASP007.
.
Free
additional recording:
Couperin:
"Le-Je_Ne_Scay_Quoy"
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Couperin
(1668-1733) needs little introduction - the master of the French baroque,
he was known in his own lifetime as "François Couperin
le Grande", and was part of a French musical family to match
that of Bach in Germany. Despite his greatest fame coming as a writer
of keyboard music, it is evident in the Concerto presented here that his
compositional skills were broad-ranging, with fine contrapuntal sequences,
fugal entries and wonderful interplay between the two instruments. The
short extra piece by Couperin in this set, rather bizarrely entitled "Le
Je-Ne-Scay-Quoy", is offered below as a free download. On the original
discs this filled up half a side after the end of the Concerto.
Felice
de Giardini (1716-1796) is a far more obscure figure, with little
of his music surviving in the recorded repertoire. De Giardini was a well
known violinist, composer and director. He sang as a choir boy in Milan,
Italy, and studied music in Turin. In the 1730s, he began playing the
violin in orchestras, and toured Europe in the 1750s. He then moved from
Italy to London where he was involved with the opera. He also worked as
music master for the Duke of Gloucester. In 1796, de Giardini moved to
Moscow, but died in poverty shortly after. Both of the two short pieces
offered here are utterly delightful and it's not hard to understand why
they were chosen for this recording: 
