Christophe Rousset, Pièces de clavecin, Gaspard le Roux (Decca L’Oiseau-Lyre).

What would happen if you took some of the more complex sonorities of Bach’s keyboard works, mixed that with a heavy dose of Couperin, and a relish of Rameau? You’d get the solo keyboard works of Gaspard le Roux. I recall vaguely the Gramophone (or was it elsewhere) review of this recording in the 1990s. I searched for it at every CD shop I could find myself in. I saw it once in a store in Shaker Square in Cleveland (Shaker Heights) some years ago, but I let it go “for next time.” Well, some ten years later, I applaud folks like those at Decca who have re-released their catalog via Amazon and iTunes. Finally, I can get to hear what the reviewers painted back then as a very rich offering from star French harpsichordist Christophe Rousset.

Rousset and Hantaï are among my favorite harpsichordists, and this CD is a real delight. The sound of the instrument is superb, but even beyond that, are these gems of suites by le Roux. Having already owned some le Roux in the form of a Harmonia Mundi release with Mitzi Meyerson and Lisa Crawford, I wasn’t ever so satisfied as with this release.

Already owning the livres of Couperin, his pieces can lose their character after you listen to too many in one sitting. Le Roux’s works, on the other hand, are more flavorful bites. I might equate the differences as “10 ways to present and cook trout” and “a cook’s tasting menu in 10 courses.” Le Roux may not have been as prolific as Couperin, but his musical ideas, perhaps more unusual, will find a welcome home in your catalog of French baroque harpsichord works.

As zesty as French claveniste repertoire may get!