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Two-time Grammy Award-nominated harpsichordist Jory Vinikour plays historically groundbreaking works by François Couperin (1668-1733) on an album comprising three inventive Couperin suites - the composer called them InchOrdresInch - combining traditional French Baroque dance movements with witty and atmospheric character pieces - miniature tone poems for solo harpsichord. Couperin's suites Inchare elegantly composed, concealing a complex, allusive and varied emotional world behind their highly wrought surfaceInch (Norton Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music). Chicago-born, French-trained harpsichordist Vinikour is especially enamored of Couperin's Ordres Nos. 6, 7, and 8, calling them InchremarkableInch for their harmonically driven melodic invention and atmospheric unity within each suite. Highlights include the celebrated Les Baricades Mistérieuses from Ordre No. 6, which England's The Guardian calls Inchshimmering, kaleidoscopic and seductive, a sonic trompe l'oeil.Inch The compelling Les Amusemens from Ordre No. 7 is irresistibly sweet and melancholic. Order No. 8 offers masterful examples of established forms, culminating with a dramatic Passacaille.
