Surviving sources of French harpsichord music from before the advent of François Couperin "Le Grand" remains disappointingly few for a variety of historic reasons. One can imagine the palpable excitement in harpsichord circles with the 2004 discovery of the Borel Manuscript, once belonging to legendary French pianist Alfred Cortot, it dates to about 1660 and contains a 110 French harpsichord pieces from that era. Now housed in the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library at the University of California in Berkeley, harpsichordist Davitt Moroney has accessed the volume and performs some 44 pieces either derived from or related to this source -- the equivalent of slightly more than a third of the total collection -- in Plectra Music's Le Clavecin Français: Music from the Borel Manuscript. Though some unidentified pieces have been placed through named sources in other manuscripts, the bulk of the works in the Borel are anonymous, and Moroney has kindly included many of these anonymous works in addition to pieces by known quantities such as Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, Louis Couperin, and Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Among more obscure figures are noblewoman Madame La Comtesse de Bieule and Jacques-Denis Thomelin, organist at the Royal Chapel of Versailles and teacher to François Couperin. Moroney imports a few pieces from other collections in order to illustrate the contents of the Borel; before the discovery of this manuscript, Thomelin is known only for one other harpsichord piece and Moroney brings this on board, so that both of Thomelin's "complete" harpsichord works could be included.
Moroney performs the whole first disc and the middle of the second on a large Ruckers harpsichord dating to 1635; the remainder is heard on a Nicholas Dumont instrument a little later than the collection, dating to 1707. Both instruments deliver a big sound captured by Plectra's recording in enveloping warmth, the main difference being that the Dumont has a slightly shorter decay time; overall the sound is very real, present, and full-throated. Moroney doesn't allow his obvious enthusiasm for this project to heighten the pulse of the performances, nor does he allow rigid standards to overtake the whole; the pieces are sufficiently individualized in interpretation and sequencing to provide for variety. Moroney contributes some engrossing liner notes, and these are given in English and French and illustrated with design elements taken from the Borel Manuscript itself. About the only thing noted wrong with this excellent package is that the listing for the timing of Louis Couperin's Boemiene on the second disc is given as "5:54" when it's only ":54." That's not much of an issue, especially when one considers that everything else about Plectra Music's Le Clavecin Français: Music from the Borel Manuscript is just as it ought to be and provides breaking -- and breathtaking -- up-to-the-minute coverage of the status of harpsichord music in the mid-seventeenth century. If you love French harpsichord music, this one is definitely worth finding.
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