Although Couperin is best known today as a composer of harpsichord music, he remained deeply involved in chamber music throughout his career. Les quatre Nations de François Couperin (celui qu’il est d’usage de surnommer « le Grand ») sont respectivement la France, l’Espagne, l’Empire et le Piémont – l’Italie donc – mais il serait assez vain de chercher dans chacun des mouvements composant ces quatre suites des caractéristiques réellement nationales.

The 350th anniversary of François Couperin's birth evoked less activity than other anniversaries in the year 2018, when this album appeared, but if you missed it you might find this a worthwhile acquisition as a state-of-the-art Couperin performance. Ambronay 2012 (AMY 035), double CD. Despite these solemn titles, Les Nations are made more nimble by a mysterious charm as the French and Italian styles mingle.

In a word, brotherhood. A brilliant exploration of Couperin's Les nations, suites written to capture the temperaments of different nationalities. It is here that we find Couperin at his most personal, more so than in his chamber music compositions such as Les Nations, thanks to a deep rapport between the musician and the instrument. François Couperin (1668-1733), Les Nations.Les Ombres (Margaux Blanchard, Sylvain Sartre). We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes.



François COUPERIN (1668–1733) Les Nations Sonades et Suites de Simphonies en Trio Juilliard Baroque. Les Nations, quatre « concerts » constitués chacun d’une sonate et d’une suite, reprennent avec inventivité des compositions anciennes que Couperin renomme pour l’occasion. François Couperin: Les Nations (Remastered), an album by François Couperin, Jordi Savall on Spotify. Enregistré au temple Lanterne de Lyon du 1 er au 9 avril 2012. Each suite is charmingly done. As a crowning final of Couperin’s anniversary year, Christophe Rousset and his Talens Lyriques deliver a long-matured version of Les Nations: pure beauty and grace. Les Nations, quatre « concerts » constitués chacun d’une sonate et d’une suite, reprennent des compositions anciennes que Couperin renomme pour l’occasion. Although their titles claim to represent ‘La Française’, ‘La Piémontaise’, ‘L’Espagnole’ and ‘L’Impériale’ (the Holy Roman Empire), each commences with an Italianate trio sonata followed by …

Probablement inspiré par des pages de Corelli, dont les Livres de sonates en trio paraissent dans les années 1680, Couperin compose La Pucelle, La Visionnaire et L’Astrée.

Les nations (1726) consists of four ‘ordres’ written over a period of about 30 years.
This is nowhere better exemplified than in his Les Nations, four trio pieces consisting of a sonata followed by a suite. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2013, More… What is it that makes this 1992 recording of François Couperin's Les Nations by the Kuijken Ensemble so special?