Le Roux: Complete Works for 1 and 2 Harpsichords

Featuring

Naoko Akutagawa
Glen Wilson
Gaspard Le Roux

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Composition History

Gaspard Le Roux's 1705 Paris edition of his harpsichord works, which this recording follows, promised more works if met with public approval, but only four other pieces (for voice) survive.

Compositional Technique

The album features Gaspard Le Roux's 'Sarabande en 12 couplets,' a brilliant set of Italianate variations resembling Corelli's and d'Anglebert's famous 'Follia' variations.

Composer Biography

Gaspard Le Roux, a 17th-century French harpsichordist, is believed to have died quite young, as he is first mentioned in 1690 and died by June 1707.

Recording & Production

This album is Naoko Akutagawa's debut recording, and she was a former student of Glen Wilson, who dedicates the recording to his own teacher, Albert Fuller.

Compositional Technique

Gaspard Le Roux's collection includes four 'unmeasured preludes' in the style of Louis Couperin, which require significant interpretive effort due to their free, whole-note-only notation.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Gaspard Le Roux's harpsichord pieces, though published in 1705, belong firmly to the 17th-century tradition and could stylistically have been composed a quarter-century earlier.

Performer Biography

Glen Wilson, one of the harpsichordists on this album, won all three categories of the 1980 Bruges competition and has since performed in over thirty countries.