Lyrebird music’s release of Louis Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin last year marks something of a milestone for this key 17th-century repertoire. This impressive publication, incorporating significant departures from earlier editions, offers something truly new to the field.

The two principal sources of Louis Couperin’s harpsichord music are the so-called Bauyn and Parville manuscripts. As detailed in the preface, it is difficult to assess which of these sources is more authoritative, given that both contain errors of repetition and omission. Bauyn has been chosen as the principal source here since, as the editor explains, watermark analysis proves it to be the earlier of the two.

In all of Lyrebird’s editions, there is a mission to present as many visual aspects of the source material as possible. Players will see a significant difference in the appearance and layout of the pieces compared with, for example, Alan Curtis’ edition for Le Pupitre, especially in terms of original beaming and ornamentation. This style of presentation allows readers to be influenced by subtleties such as hand shapes, articulation and gesture. The issue of ornamentation is challenging in these pieces, given that the Bauyn manuscript is nearly bereft of ornaments. None are added here by the editor, but those present in the Parville manuscript have been transferred where sensible. Players using this edition will be confident to add their own, using ideas for guidance in the preface.

Referencing the debates of the past decade, Baxendale’s introduction concisely counters Glen Wilson’s argument (in his Early Keyboard Journal article ‘The Other Mr Couperin’, 2013) that Charles (not Louis) Couperin might be composer of these pieces. Demuring, Baxendale refers to the ‘restricted’ and liturgical style of organ music of this period, believing that ‘organ music was restricted in style because it had to be functional” and that the ‘new, modish and experimental’ nature of the compositional language of the harpsichord goes some way to explain the difference in nature of Louis’ organ works. Fundamentally, he disagrees with Wilson’s argument that the Louis’ missing forename in either principal source points to a different authorship, Louis’ brother Charles (father of François le Grand).

The prefaces of Lyrebird’s edition have earned a strong reputation for their detailed insight into performance practice. Here, Baxendale discusses rhetoric with regards to Couperin’s harpsichord music in a far more detailed way than his forebears, and his comments on the rhetorical language of the preludes is a significant contribution to the pedagogical field on these works. His didactic writing here is inspired, and guides readers/players in areas from harmonic direction, use of tempo/movement, breathing/phrasing and inequality, to figures of speech and rhythmic devices, drawing on examples in a compelling way.

The notation of Couperin’s preludes is notoriously difficult to interpret. Baxendale’s section on these pieces features diagrams with coloured notes to indicate the main progressions. Relating this to the score, he suggests meanings for the curved and vertical lines, helping players interpret groupings appropriately. For Baxendale, it is the placing of the curved lines, not their meaning, which is sometimes ambiguous. He guides his reader into the intricacies of declamation, harmonic working, ornamental shapes and fingering.

This quality release sits well within the rapidly growing Lyrebird Music catalogue, which encompasses a range of keyboard repertoire, ranging from 16th-century collections to César Franck. The print quality is high, with a clear typeface and thoughtful pagination. This well-priced edition reflects a huge amount of original research, care and detailed preparation, with issues of performance practice at its core. I would recommend this publication highly to keyboard players who would like to get closer to the original notation of the sources. This edition, equally suitable for the seasoned player and less experienced, will satisfy every thinking musician.

Thomas Allery

Harpsichord & Fortepiano, Spring 2023