Louis Couperin: Organ Works / Laurent Beyhurst

On April 9, 1653, Louis Couperin was appointed organist of the church of Saint-Gervais in Paris; from 1661, Charles Couperin (Louis Couperin’s younger brother) succeeded Louis in that position. And then, in 1685, François Couperin, Charles’ son, succeeded him. Seventy of Louis Couperin’s organ pieces are included in the so-called “Oldham Manuscript” discovered in 1957, and these are the main works recorded on this CD. Although the titles of the pieces are divided into those entitled “Fantasias” and those entitled “Fugues” they are both composed substantially in the form of fugues. In addition, pedals are used only in the three “Pange Lingua” pieces; the rest are with hand-keyboards only. Although the Oldham manuscript does not specify the stops for all but a few of the pieces, each piece has a detailed date of composition, which is very interesting. #baroque #couperin #片山俊幸