Dover Classical Piano Music: Complete Keyboard Works Series Two : Ordres XIV-XXVII and Miscellaneous Pieces (Paperback)

Series Two of excellent reprint of Augener edition edited by Brahms and Chrysander contains Ordres 14-27 plus 8 Preludes and Allemande from L Art de Toucher le Clavecin. His melodic imagination displays admirable freshness. He possesses a delicate harmonic sense. His themes show the inspirations of an impassioned musician: perfectly created firm in line vivid and enduring in color. His art never wavers; it consistently exhibits a magnificent technique. -- John Gillespie Five Centuries of Keyboard Music This famous edition prepared a century ago by Johannes Brahms and Friedrich Chrysander presents all of the 27 keyboard suites or Ordres by the great French composer François Couperin (1668-1733). Also included are the Allemande and 8 Preludes from Couperin s famous harpsichord treatise L Art de Toucher le Clavecin. In these magnificent works (there are over 200 compositions in the two volumes) lies the supreme achievement of French keyboard music a rich source of subtle sometimes startling always pleasurable music for keyboard artists and students at every level of expertise. The moods rhythms and melodies of these distinctive compositions range across a broad musical spectrum from crisp gavottes to noble sarabandes from flowing allemandes to lively gigues. Some of the pieces suggest carnival merriment others tender reflection; most have colorful and mysterious names. Couperin s virtuoso command of harpsichord style his magnificent technique and ever-fresh melodic imagination pervade them all. Witty graceful and tuneful the keyboard works of Couperin represent a wonderful legacy of late-baroque masterpieces. Beautifully reproduced in this inexpensive edition they make abundantly clear the justice of Bach s intense admiration for Couperin s music and the aptness of the French master s surname -- le grand. Note: Series Two contains Ordres 14-27 plus 8 Preludes and Allemande from L Art de Toucher le Clavecin.