Lillian Gordis: French Connection

Jean-Philippe Rameau Premier concert, Pièces de clavecin en concerts
Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre Trio Sonata in B flat major
Johann Sebastian Bach Trio Sonata from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Johann Sebastian Bach Trio Sonata in C major, BWV 529
Georg Philipp Telemann Paris Quartet, TWV 43:G1
Jean-Philippe Rameau Cinquième concert, Pièces de clavecin en concerts

Matthew Truscott violin
Katy Bircher flute
Jonathan Manson viola da gamba
Lilian Gordis harpsichord

Jean-Philippe Rameau is most famous now as a composer of grand operas, full of myth and phalanxes of woodwind, but in 1741 he published a remarkable collection of pieces with tantalising titles—not only pen-portraits of his fellow musicians like Forqueray and Boucon but also more general character studies of La Timide and L’Indifférente. JS Bach’s Musical Offering has its own remarkable backstory, a collection composed for Frederick the Great of Prussia on a dastardly theme from the King himself. Fittingly for a flute-playing, Francophile monarch, this programme is filled with music that revels in crossing the border.

Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm