Texte paru dans: / Appeared in:
 
Fanfare Magazine: 43:1 (09-10/2019) 
Pour s'abonner / Subscription information
Les abonnés à Fanfare Magazine ont accès aux archives du magazine sur internet.
Subscribers to Fanfare Magazine have access to the archives of the magazine on the net.

Atma
ACD22780



Code-barres / Barcode : 722056278027

McNabney recently earned her doctorate from McGill University, my alma mater, which is one of the reasons I requested this CD for review. (Another reason is that it is difficult for me to get my fill of French harpsichord music.) On this disc, she plays an instrument made in 1981 by Keith Hill after Blanchet. The recording took place in a church in Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez in Québec, about 60 miles north of Montréal—a good location for giving the instrument’s sound a place in which to blossom.

Comparing McNabney’s recording of D’Anglebert’s Tombeau de Chambonnières with one by Skip Sempè, one is immediately struck by McNabney’s gentleness, which is not to say that her playing lacks personality. One might say, though, that Sempè’s Tombeau is constructed of unyielding marble while McNabney’s is made of still-warm flesh. She is almost two minutes faster. On an Alpha CD, Sempè also plays D’Anglebert’s transcription of the Passacaille from Lully’s Armide, albeit in a version for two harpsichords. (The other player is Olivier Fortin.) Sempè’s and Fortin’s version is, quite frankly, magnificent—one might say that it rocks—whereas McNabney’s is slower and more studied. I know which one is more fun!

Inspirations, the title of this CD, refers, in part, to the sonic environment in which these three composers lived—an environment that contained not just other harpsichordists, but also large instrumental ensembles. McNabney writes, “Inspired by these sonorities, [these composers] tried to capture them so as to reproduce them in their compositions and transcriptions.” Assuming that this is an accurate statement, it is a little surprising that McNabney’s performances are as intimate as they are. That’s not really a complaint, but I must say that there are times, such as in D’Anglebert’s suite, when a little more panache would have been welcome. Still, for what it is, this is a good recital, and McNabney gets bonus points for her stylistically appropriate transcriptions of music from Rameau’s Les Indes galantes and Platée.

This appears to be McNabney’s first solo CD. It does not set the harpsichord world on fire, but it does augur well for the future.

Fermer la fenêtre/Close window

Cliquez l'un ou l'autre bouton pour découvrir bien d'autres critiques de CD
 Click either button for many other reviews