Beauvarlet-Charpentier: 1er livre de Pièces de Clavecin

Featuring

Fernando de Luca
Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier

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Instruments

Fernando De Luca performs on a French harpsichord, built by C. Caponi in 1985, which is modeled after a Blanchet harpsichord from 1754.

Recording & Production

This recording was made in January 2015 at Palazzo Annibaldeschi in Montecompatri (Rome), Italy.

Performer Biography

Fernando De Luca, the harpsichordist on this album, was the first to record the complete harpsichord works of J.N.P. Royer in 1991 and founded 'Sala del Cembalo del Caro Sassone,' a major online source for harpsichord recordings.

Composer Biography

Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, an 18th-century French composer, succeeded his father as organist at the Hospice de la Charité in Lyons and later held prestigious organist positions in Paris, including at Notre-Dame.

Album & Artwork

The album cover features 'The Interrupted Sleep,' a 1750 painting by François Boucher, an 18th-century French painter, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Compositional Technique

Beauvarlet-Charpentier's 1er Livre de Pièces de Clavecin, a collection of harpsichord pieces, is noted for its use of textures and progressions typical of orchestral writing.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The booklet suggests that Beauvarlet-Charpentier's music, like the paintings of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, reflects a hidden tension beneath apparent serenity, hinting at the societal changes leading to the French Revolution.