This first recording of a selection of Gervais-François Couperin's piano works is intended to provide an overview of the youngest member of the Couperin family with works that have survived to this day. The son of Armand-Louis Couperin (1727-1789), to whom Brilliant Records has also dedicated a release of his complete harpsichord works (see BC 95459), G.-F. Couperin (1759-1826) is the last known musician in the line of the greatest French musical dynasty of his time. The selection of pieces presented here is intended to demonstrate his compositional engagement with the fortepiano. The four most frequently used forms in Couperin's piano works are the variations, the sonata, the rondo and the piece in free form. This program contains the most important examples of these four types.

The two sonatas Op. 1, published in 1788, were most probably intended to officially introduce the young composer to French connoisseurs. They were conceived for piano or piano accompanied by violin and cello ad libitum. Both sonatas consist of three movements, the first in large sonata form. This is followed by a slower movement, which in the second sonata consists of a theme with 7 variations. A final movement in rondo form concludes both sonatas. Stylistically, they are relatively close to other sonatas of the time, although the first movements are quasi-symphonic compositions.

The highly virtuosic style expressed in the two sonatas Op. 1 is even more evident in two individual pieces that are closely linked: Les Incroyables Op. 6 and Les Merveilleuses Op. 7. The two pieces refer to followers of a fashion trend that was very popular among the Parisian aristocracy during the French Directory (1795-1799). The men were called Incroyables ('incredible') and the women Merveilleuses ('marvelous') and they greeted the new regime with an outburst of luxury, decadence and even silliness, perhaps as a reaction to the Terror period. The two pieces are in free form, with a ritornello in the first, shorter part. In fact, however, this form has much in common with the rondo, whose mastery Couperin had already demonstrated, both in his sonatas and in a short single rondo presented here and published in the Journal de Clavecin in 1782. This short and elegant piece, possibly the first ever published by Couperin, is the closest to the classical period with its almost Viennese flair.

Two sets of variations, both published in 1790, together with the slow movement of the Sonata Op. 1 No. 2, show Couperin's skill in this genre. It is worth noting that the first movement is based on one of the most emblematic revolutionary songs, "Ah! Ça ira", while the second is based on a royalist song, the Complainte béarnoise, the protests of a troubadour against the lodging of King Louis XVI in the Palais de Tuileries at the beginning of the Revolution.

Further information:
Recorded in September 2023, Monte Compatri, Italy. The booklet in English contains liner notes by the artist and his biography.

Simone PIerini plays an original fortepiano by J. Haselmann (ca. 1800-10), tuned to A=430 Hz in Young 1 (1800).

This first recording of a selection of works by Gervais-François Couperin is intended to provide an overview of the youngest member of the Couperin family, whose works have survived to this day. Gervais-François Couperin (1759-1826), son of Armand-Louis Couperin (1727-1789), was the youngest known musician of the greatest French musical dynasty of his time. He was a highly esteemed composer and musician who played for Napoleon and was organist of several important churches in Paris (Saint-Gervais, St. Sulpice and others). The four most frequently used forms in Couperin's piano works are the variations, the sonata, the rondo and the piece in free form, all of which are represented in this new recording. The highly virtuosic style of the two Op. 1 sonatas is even evident in Les Incroyables Op. 6 and Les Merveilleuses Op. 7. The two pieces refer to the followers of a fashion that was very popular among the Parisian aristocracy during the French Directory (1795-1799). The followers of this new fashion, the Incroyables (i.e. the 'incredible ones') for the men, the Merveilleuses (the 'marvelous women') for the women, welcomed the new regime with an outburst of luxury, decadence and even silliness.

Played on the fortepiano by Simone Pierini. Pierini was born in Rome in 1996 and began studying music at the age of eight. At 18, he completed his piano studies at the "S. Cecilia" Conservatory in Rome with distinction. He then became more interested in historically informed piano playing and attended masterclasses with Alexei Lubimov, Andreas Staier, Tobias Koch and Stefano Fiuzzi. Later, his interest in historical keyboard instruments in general continued to grow and he began to study harpsichord and basso continuo with teachers such as Andrea Coen and Giovanni Togni. His recordings of music by Cherubini and the complete piano sonatas by Hélène de Montgeroult were very well received by the press. Classic FM nominated him as one of the 30 best musicians under 30 in 2024.