Jean Rondeau: Harpsichord Waterfall
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| (c) Petra Hajská |
The third evening of the Summer Festivities of Early Music in Prague introduced in a bold yet refined dramaturgy another important area of the musical life of the royal court in Versailles - compositions for solo harpsichord. In the Theresian Hall of the Břevnov Monastery, an interpreter with the distinctive name Jean Rondeau sat down at this instrument (20th July).
The 26-year-old harpsichordist visited Prague five years ago as a participant in the Prague Spring International Music Competition, from which he won the 2nd prize, in the same year he won the prestigious Musica Antiqua International Competition in Bruges. Since then, his career has come from superlatives on many occasions; he is mentioned for his innovative play and unusual hairstyle, which might attract younger listeners to concerts. (There were not so many of them at the Prague concert, but I think it was a success here that thanks to the good promotion, the hall was completely filled. In my opinion, even today, long after the renaissance of the harpsichord playing, this is not an easy task.)
Instead of the sovereign, a young man who seemed lost in time and space entered the stage. The audience felt unsure for a few seconds before realizing that in the non-concert civilian clothes there was no confused lighting designer with a muss hair, but a well-known soloist. After the first tones, he turned into a deeply concentrated artist who led us confidently through the colourful and often complicated world of French harpsichord music. The pieces flowed into one another with only short breaths as parts of a large baroque suite or a chapter of a florid novel with many branches.
The two manual copy of Frank-Flemish instrument from František Vyhnálek’s workshop developed its breath taking lower sounds under Rondeau's leadership especially in the first half of the evening. The energetic Pavana in G minor of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (1601 / 2—1672), the founder of the French classical harpsichord school, went smoothly into the highly-stylized dances of Chambonnier's pupil, Jean-Henry
d'Anglebert (baptized 1629—1691). To this geyser of thoughts and ornaments the soloist added the adaptations of the viola da gamba compositions of Antoine Forqueray (1672—1745) written by his son Jean-Baptist (1699-1782). La Portugaise, La Sylva and La Jupiter are sparkle, witty and daring compositions full of contrasts. This part of concert was not easy to listen and Jean Rondeau played the music rather energetically, with only slight nuances. He knew the top was just ahead of us.
After the intermission, we entered together with François Couperin (1668—1733) the world of other harpsichord generations, and the instrument blossomed in all his beauty. Couperin, who admired and originally combined the elements of the music by Jean-Baptist Lully and Arcangelo Corelli, wrote a magnificent collection of pieces with many unusual names. Jean Rondeau chose La Ménetou (Harpsichord Pieces, Book 2, Suite 7), Le dodo (Harpsichord Pieces, Book 3, Suite 15) and Passacaille (Harpsichord Pieces, Book 2, Suite 8). If I missed more peace now and then in the first part of the concert, there was an abundance of it. All the pieces were wonderfully patient, the lullaby sounded almost like a “Ravelian” dream. We also enjoyed the appoggiaturas, the echoes, the
temperament and the passion that Couperin put into the charming Passacaille. At the end of the concert, the progressive works of the Master of the Royal Chamber Music, Joseph-Nicolase-Pancras Royer (1703—1755), were heard: La Sensible and the wild “Beethovenian” La Marche des Scythes. The enchanted audience was rewarded by the artist with three encores: La Barricade Mystérieuses of Françoise Couperin, Les Sauvages of Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Aria from Goldberg's variations by Johann Sebastian Bach.
It was not une tempête dans un verre d'eau. Jean Rondeau has an extraordinary strong and artistically mature personality with lots of emotions. He knows how to play the harpsichord in a harpsichord style, without piano manners are not helping in any way. He can cope with the world of ornaments, irregularities in the rhythm and he also, if possible, stylistically improvises. The concert entitled "Solo for the King" could not have been in better hands. Certainly not only I hope we did not hear Jean Rondeau in Prague for the last time.
© Dina Snejdarova
Published with a kind permission of Czech classical music magazine Harmonie. 
