Limelight — May 2017

written-out harpsichord part. In most trio

sonatas of the time, the harpsichordist

merely improvised a simple harmonic

accompaniment to the two solo violins. In

Rameau’s Pièces, though, the harpsichord

itself becomes the leading instrument,

accompanied, more or less fully, by the violin

and bass viol. It was a role reversal which

inspired Rameau to fresh, new textures and

sonorities, and a wide range of moods.

Since the style of the Pièces was so novel,

Rameau offered his players a few words of

advice. He recommended the “violin and viol

must just lend themselves to the harpsichord”,

urging the string players to “distinguish

between what is only accompaniment

and what is thematic”, stressing that, “the

accompaniment itself must be played even

more softly”. Finally he appealed to his

performers’ instinctive musicianship: “Grasp

the spirit of each of my pieces properly,

and the whole will fall perfectly into place.”

Rameau meant that players should pay

particular attention to the evocative titles he’d

printed at the start of each movement.

He admitted that some of these titles were

invented after the music had been composed,

but others were genuine musical portraits –

something of a French speciality.

In the technically ambitious La

Forqueray it’s the viol playing

of Rameau’s friend the young

Jean-Baptiste Forqueray which

is celebrated. In La Marais we

meet one of the lively children

of the great viol player and

composer Marin Marais.

The most intriguing portrait,

though, is La Cupis: possibly the

celebrated dancer Marie-Anne

Cupis (who took part in the

première of Rameau’s Hippolyte

et Aricie), or perhaps her brother,

François, whose unhappy life

is more aptly portrayed in the

melancholy of the music.

At the end of the Fourth Suite,

Rameau offers us a rare and

surely tongue-in-cheek self-

portrait. In La Rameau he paints

himself as confident, witty and

outgoing – rather at odds with the reserved,

sometimes irascible personality observed

by his contemporaries. But with its restless

textures and competing melodic ideas, La

Rameau captures that extravagant and complex

style which Rameau’s detractors once belittled

as ‘baroque’ but which we now value so highly.

Pinchgut Opera presents Anacréon and

Pigmalion at City Recital Hall, June 15 – 20

Photo © Alastiar Muir

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH O

Barrie Kosky’s Castor and Pollux at English National Opera, 2013

FORWARD &

BACH

Martin Luther’s musical legacy

Three motets by J.S.Bach:

Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden

Komm, Jesu, komm

Jesu, meine Freude

Five world premieres by Australian composers:

Andrew Batt-Rawden, Brett McKern, Ella Macens,

Matthew Hindson, Paul Stanhope

DATES:

Sat 10 June 3pm

Yellow House Sydney

Tue 13 June 7.30pm

Deakin Edge,

Federation Square,

Melbourne

Thu 15 June 7pm

Christ Church

Cathedral, Newcastle

Sat 17 June 7.30pm

Independent Theatre,

North Sydney

Thu 22 June 7.30pm

St James Church,

Sydney

Fri 23 June 7pm

Wesley Uniting Church,

Canberra

WITH GUEST ARTISTS

TOBIAS COLE, RICHARD BUTLER,

NEAL PERES DA COSTA, AND DANIEL YEADON

BOOKINGS:

http://www.song.company/forward-bach

02 8272 9500