This series deserves far more attention than it is likely to get in today’s oversaturated market. Geneviève Soly is a marvelous performer, and her advocacy of Graupner’s excellent keyboard music can’t be too highly praised. The three suites included here contain terrific music. The first of them, a somber work in C minor, opens with an expansive Praeludium followed by an even larger Allemande, and concludes with a richly characterized (by both composer and performer) Aria with six variations. Februarius, from a collection of suites named (obviously) after the months of year, includes an absolutely delightful Musette and a very French sounding Sommeille (or “sleep” piece), of the type more commonly found in the ballet music of French Baroque operas.
The concluding D major suite opens in Germany, with a robust Allemande, and concludes in France, with a superb and technically demanding Chaconne. It goes almost without saying that Soly plays all of this music as if to the manner born, and her instrument, a gorgeously lithe Hubbard and Broekman double-manual harpsichord (with a charming buff stop that you can sample in the Praeludium of Februarius), is glowingly recorded by Analekta, with an ideal combination of warmth and clarity. If you have avoided the first two issues in this series but otherwise enjoy Baroque keyboard music by, say, Bach or Rameau, then you really must hear Graupner. He’s every bit as good. [11/11/2004]
