Tic Toc Choc: Keyboard Works

The title refers to a piece Alexandre Tharaud plays often as an encore, and it's an apt (and catchy) introduction to this wide-ranging selection of Francois Couperin’s works originally written for the harpsichord. Couperin arranged such short pieces into Ordres, or suites and Tharaud has fashioned his own suite made up of those most amenable to the modern piano. As such, it’s a wonderful followup to his earlier disc of Rameau and an example of the adaptability of French Baroque keyboard music to the modern instrument that should please all but the most die-hard devotees of "authentic" instruments. If anything, the richer timbres, varied colors, and dynamic capabilities of Tharaud’s concert grand yield greater accessibility to Couperin’s delightful miniatures, none lasting much more than five minutes. These gems are played with fleet-fingered accuracy and imagination. The popular Musette de Taverni gains from overdubbing, and the addition of the tambour to Bruit de Guerre is a delightful touch. As an encore to Couperin’s 19 pieces, Tharaud closes with Duphly’s La Pothouin, a lovely work that induces thoughts of Romantic era keyboard poets. A wholly successful recital, yielding over an hour of pure enchantment. -- Dan Davis