Jean-François Dandrieu

Another winner from Dame Gillain Weir following on from the resounding success of her Priory recording in the Royal Albert Hall (PRCD 859) This recording was made days before the organ was removed prior to the Halls refurbishment. It is estimated that if it returns it will not be until 2010. So here is the wonderful combination of artist and organ – an association which is such that she has appeared here and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall some 50 times during her career. This organ has only appeared rarely on LP and CD and is therefore a real collectors disc.

During this period French harpsichord makers sought to extend the rich timbre of their instruments and devised better ways to control contrasts of registration and dynamic. This in turn allowed players to enlarge the technical and expressive scope of their music. The pieces recorded here are representative of about sixty years of this process, when the French harpsichord tradition, inspired by the genius of Couperin and Rameau, was at its height.