# Wanda Landowska plays Couperin



## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Found this cd for .50 cents so I bought it. Wow! I really like it as I have not heard much of this composer but I think the artist probably brings out something that may not show up in other recordings as there are a few tracks of JS Bach well Tempered Clavier BK 1...it sounds different as well. And the tracks are from 1930's to 1950's..

If anyone had a particular affinity for this composer....go ahead and give me your favorite cds.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

I’m a big fan of Marcelle Meyer in Couperin.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Bigbang said:


> Found this cd for .50 cents so I bought it. Wow! I really like it as I have not heard much of this composer but I think the artist probably brings out something that may not show up in other recordings as there are a few tracks of JS Bach well Tempered Clavier BK 1...it sounds different as well. And the tracks are from 1930's to 1950's..
> 
> If anyone had a particular affinity for this composer....go ahead and give me your favorite cds.


I'm going to take a long shot with you. If you like the way Landowska played Francois Couperin I think you should try the two cds that Blandine Verlet released over the past two years, these two (NOT the earlier ones on Astree)


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Carole Cerasi has a special affinity with the French clavecinistes. Her recent recording of the complete _le Grand Couperin_ is performed on 6 different harpsichords, including two important antiques, and is the cat's meow.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

Wanda Landowska's Goldberg Variations is wonderful.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

David Phillips said:


> Wanda Landowska's Goldberg Variations is wonderful.


I looked it up on my library option to stream...goldberg v and scarlatti came up to stream

Thanks


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> I'm a big fan of Marcelle Meyer in Couperin.


I found some to stream on this artist in Couperin...thanks


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I have the complete works for harpsichord performed by Olivier Baumont. I enjoy it, but I don't have many other harpsichord performances to compare.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

jegreenwood said:


> I have the complete works for harpsichord performed by Olivier Baumont. I enjoy it, but I don't have many other harpsichord performances to compare.


Good reviews on amazon. And I can stream it for free...10 hours worth.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Another François Couperin player who’s similar in spirit to Landowska I think is Wladislaw Klosiewicz.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Bigbang said:


> Good reviews on amazon. And I can stream it for free...10 hours worth.


It was a bargain box when I bought it. Before that my only Couperin keyboard discs were by Angela Hewitt. But I discovered, as I had been advised by others, that Couperin really doesn't work on the piano. Oddly, I like Hewitt's Rameau disc.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Couperin / Wanda Landowska, 1940s: Les Barricades Mysterieuses; L'Arlequine - Rare Vinyl LP





Wanda Landowska (harpsichord) Couperin, pièces pour clavecin


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

regenmusic said:


>


Bruno Walter said that when he plays Mozart he wants to underplay the " seemingly graceful playfulness" of the music and to instead bring out " the dramatist's inexorable seriousness and wealth of characterization" and to express "a truth concealed behind the veil of beauty."

Well it sounds to me that, for good or for bad, Landowska had similar ideas about Francois Couperin.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> Bruno Walter said that when he plays Mozart he wants to underplay the " seemingly graceful playfulness" of the music and to instead bring out " the dramatist's inexorable seriousness and wealth of characterization" and to express "a truth concealed behind the veil of beauty."
> 
> Well it sounds to me that, for good or for bad, Landowska had similar ideas about Francois Couperin.


Cool...yes I can hear some of this on my cd. First I have not listen to Couperin but the sounds she reproduces sound very unlike harpsichord and even make me think I am hearing two instruments. There are a few tracks though that just make me take notice and really listen....thanks


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> Bruno Walter said that when he plays Mozart he wants to underplay the " seemingly graceful playfulness" of the music and to instead bring out " the dramatist's inexorable seriousness and wealth of characterization" and to express "a truth concealed behind the veil of beauty."
> 
> Well it sounds to me that, for good or for bad, Landowska had similar ideas about Francois Couperin.


I might add (cd is not in front of me) that notes states she had very clear ideas of how she wanted to play them...and of course she obviously had not much to copy at the time I am sure.


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