Jacquet de La Guerre

Pièces de clavecin

Elisabetta Guglielmin (harpsichord) Aevea OC17091 116:36 mins (2 discs) Described by her contemporaries as ‘the marvel of our century’, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre performed her own music at the court of Versailles at an age when most of us are scribbling with coloured crayons. Her first collection of harpsichord pieces appeared in 1687, its four suites in a rich, sober, highly embellished style, often redolent of the French lute tradition (notably, in the unmeasured preludes, the rhythm of which is not notated but left to the performer to realise). The second set, of just two Pièces, is lightened a shade with the influence of Italian music, but there remains a magisterial quality to these suites, with their sweeping gestures, sumptuous textures and glimmering colours.

Italian harpsichordist Elisabetta Guglielmin plays these with apt gravitas and majesty. A former pupil of Kenneth Gilbert, Guglielmin has inherited much of his sobriety and restraint, and these ruminative accounts capture the melancholy spirit that pervades so much of the music. Her approach works well for the brooding minor-mode works, their sonorities enhanced by her instrument: a copy of a 1638 Ruckers harpsichord – dark, plummy and full-bodied as aged claret.

At times, though, the playing is overly ponderous; some of the lighter dances could skip with more buoyant rhythms. That said, she captures the improvised poetry of the preludes beautifully, ornaments are exquisitely turned, and throughout Guglielmin proves to be a fluent and persuasive interpreter of Jacquet de la Guerre’s distinctively French idiom.

Kate Bolton-porciatti PERFORMANCE ★★★★ RECORDING ★★★★★