F. Couperin - Les Baricades mistérieuses

Music historians have puzzled over the enigmatic title of this piece only to reach the conclusion that it will simply remain a mystery why Couperin named it Les Barricades mystèrieuses. However, we know that it is a movement, in rondeau form, from the Sixth Ordre of the Pièces de clavecin, Book II, published in 1716 or 1717. Like a Vermeer interior, the music conjures up the otherworldly stillness of place, in which a dreamer, reassured by the silent counterpoint of shadows and subdued lights, feels free to retreat into a world, distant yet strangely familiar, of tranquil thoughts and memories. Couperin, who profoundly understood the soul of the harpsichord, uses an even, almost uniform, tone, staying in the muted register of the instrument, to create a quiet aural background against which a gentle, intriguing contrapuntal tapestry is displayed. To weave this tapestry, Couperin employs syncopation and broken chords, achieving an unmistakable lute-like sonority with four voices. According to the eminent music historian James R. Anthony, this piece exemplifies Couperin's ability to transform the structure of each contrasting couplet of a rondeau from simple to complex by introducing harmonic and textural changes. A brilliant instance of this achieved complexity, Anthony has written, "is the final couplet of 'Les Baricades mistérieuses' (Book 2, Ordre 6), which, in its broken-chord spacing and in its delayed resolutions of suspensions, has the sound of Fauré or even of Schumann."
(Zoran Minderovic)
Emanuel Estrada Yarce
Guitar: Diego Valencia 2016 (Colombia)
EAFIT University (Colombia)
16/06/18

[@hannahl.9614]

Beautifully done! I love this piece

[@EmanuelEstradaYarce]

Thank you!

[@duddudtmd]

Best

[@EmanuelEstradaYarce]

Thank you!

[@halvey123]

Good production and notes on the piece. What edition do you play? Thank you

[@EmanuelEstradaYarce]

Thanks. The transcription I play here is by Christopher Parkening. Capo on the 2nd fret not specified there by the way hehe. You can find it here bit.ly/2TdtgmK