Pièces de clavecin: Deuxième livre: Ordre No. 6 in B-Flat Major

The second book of François Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin begins with the Sixième Ordre (Sixth suite)—the first of his suites in which all eight movements are in the same key (B-flat major). The opening movement, “The Reapers”, is a poor-man’s gavotte, marked to be played “gaily”. Couperin then slows things down for “Tender Languors”, full of melancholic lyrical charm and bristling with fine ornamentation. For “The Warblers” we move to the very top of the keyboard, and Couperin doesn’t do anything as unsubtle as write bird imitations—leaving the hints of chirruping to the delicate touch of the player. The mysteriously titled “Les baricades mistérieuses” has never been decoded, but its texture is transparent: a perfect example of the French “style brisé” (“broken style”), imitating the spread-out, rippling style of the lute. Bach admired “The Sheepfolds” (“Les bergeries”)—complete with bagpiping effects—copying it into his wife’s music book in 1725. “The Gossip” (“La commére”) is a witty study in chattering, complete with plenty of ornaments. Finally, “The Gnat” (“Le moucheron”) is portrayed in a slightly irritating Italian gigue, buzzing around endlessly until eventually landing at the bottom end of the harpsichord, with some suitably graphic left-hand trills.