| Label: ANALEKTA
Catalog: AN29970
Format: CD Luc Beausejour - HarpsichordWholenote Discoveries - May 2011
This fascinating recording celebrates the essential triumvirate of a complete and satisfying musical experience: composer/performer/instrument. Recorded entirely on a pedal harpsichord completed in 2009 by the brilliant and prolific Montreal instrument-maker Yves Beaupré, the program tours some of Bach’s best-loved keyboard works. The excellent French Canadian harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour enjoys an international career and is known for his virtuosity, as well as being a probing and thoughtful performer. He dives boldly into the full and rich sound world of the pedal harpsichord, a robust and powerful instrument that makes up in heft and colour what it lacks in delicacy. From the profound and familiar opening notes of the D minor Toccata, Beauséjour’s playing sparkles with precision, intensity and beauty. Two substantial Prelude and Fugue sets (BWV 541 and 535) and a generous selection of chorale preludes follow. In the latter it is at times difficult to apprehend the chorale tunes in the midst of the surrounding material, the sound colours being so identical. The recording concludes however with a spectacular performance of the monumental C Minor Passacaille, BWV 582. There is a relentless intensity to the sound of the pedal harpsichord which may make this recording not to everyone’s taste, but the remarkably free and deeply musical playing of Beauséjour carries the day for me, making this CD a unique and valuable effort. Larry Beckwith
"The pedal harpsichord remains a formative instrument," explains Beauséjour. "It allows one to hear everything; polyphony comes through with great clarity, and everything is recreated with remarkable precision."
Harpsichordist and organist Luc Beauséjour is renowned for the elegance, virtuosity, and expressiveness of his playing, which has won him an enthusiastic audience and the continuing praise of critics and music specialists.  Price: $18.98 |
