Louis Marchand left
only two suites for harpsichord. Although
these have been recorded several times
they remain outside the standard harpsichordist
repertoire. At first it seems Mario
Martinoli offers a brand-new recording
of those suites, but that is not the
case. The cover says: 'Livre de pièces
de clavecin, 1754'. Those who know Louis
Marchand died in 1732 immediately realise
something unusual is offered here. And
the booklet reveals that this disc brings
some pieces hitherto unknown, not just
by Marchand, but also by other French
composers of the 18th century.
The fact that Marchand's
name appears infrequently on concert
programmes is perhaps due to the character
of his compositions. Philippe Beaussant,
in the programme notes to Blandine Verlet's
recording of the two harpsichord suites,
states: "Though his compositions are
skilfully written, their mastery is
not obviously admirable as such. They
need to be studied closely before they
are found to be very great music". And
there isn't much music to choose from.
Apart from the two suites, published
by Ballard in 1702, only one further
harpsichord piece was published, 'La
Vénitienne', in a collection,
also printed by Ballard in 1707. A large
part of his fame was based on his activities
as an organist. And again, only a handful
of organ works were published, although
posthumously, whereas a number of other
pieces have survived in manuscript.
It was his reputation as organist which
led to the famous contest with Bach
in Dresden in 1717, which he evaded
after having heard Bach play. But that
story is perhaps more fiction than reality.
Marchand was abroad at the time, as
he had left France in 1713, but not
necessarily for musical reasons.
It is quite possible
that it was his private life which made
him leave France for a while. By all
accounts Marchand was a rather difficult
character. To quote Philippe Beaussant:
"Restless, cumbersome, self-conceived,
slightly paranoiac, ambitious to the
point of awkwardness, ready to trample
underfoot all the musicians in the Kingdom
to achieve his aims, and using means
such that even the most tolerant became
indignant, a bad husband, a bad father
and a bad man …". In 1701 he and his
wife divorced, and since then she continuously
sued him for financial support. It is
suggested he left France to get away
from all his troubles. Beaussant also
suggests that he perhaps felt Bach,
being not more than a musician from
the province, wasn't a worthy opponent.
In addition, his reputation as an organist
was such that it is hardly likely that
he feared Bach's competition.
According to historical
sources Marchand continued to compose
and to play after the publication of
his suites. It is anybody's guess why
no other works were printed. From this
perspective the disc is especially interesting.
The works on the present
CD belong to a mid-18th century manuscript
book discovered in 2003 in a French
private collection. It contains copies
of pieces from well-known music collections
of the early 18th century. But it includes
also 19 pieces hitherto unknown, which
in the manuscript are split into two
different collections: the 'Livre de
Suittes pour le clavecin composé
par Monsieur de Charman(t) cordelier,
et arrangé par Renard, à
Paris, 1754', and 'Recueil des Airs
différentes pour le clavessin
composées par plusieurs auteurs,
collectées par P. Renard, avec
les parties en concert, et la basse,
à Paris'. The date of the latter
collection is unreadable.
The first collection
in the manuscript consists of a single
suite of 14 pieces, two of which are
in C major and 14 in c minor. The attributions
given in the tracklist show there is
much uncertainty as to who exactly wrote
which piece. The attribution of a number
of pieces to Marchand comes from the
interpretation of the title, mentioning
the name of 'Monsieur Charman(t)'. As
no composer of that name is known, it
is interpreted as an anagram of the
name Marchan(d). But that name was very
common in Parisian musical life: at
least ten musicians with the name Marchand
from three different musical families
were active in Paris in the early 18th
century. The addition 'cordelier' gives
a further clue of the identity of the
composer: Louis Marchand was organist
of the Église des Cordeliers
from 1707 until his death. The collection
was put together and some of the pieces
were transcribed by a certain Renard,
whose identity has not as yet been established.
The second part of
the manuscript contains 23 pieces by
various French composers, among them
Couperin, Rameau, Marchand and Forqueray.
Such collections were quite common at
the time and were used as teaching material
or as a book to play from. The person
who put this collection together must
have been an accomplished player, as
most of these compositions are pretty
virtuosic. Some pieces seem to be transcriptions
of compositions for two treble instruments
and basso continuo. Most interesting
is the fact that five compositions are
not known from other sources, which
makes them important additions to the
repertoire of French harpsichord music.
All compositions are
listed in a table in the booklet, with
the relevant information concerning
the possible composer and the character
of the works. Mario Martinoli is an
Italian keyboard player I hadn't heard
of before. He has worked as a producer
for a number of European record companies
and owns a marketing and communications
company. It seems that he is a part-time
keyboard player, but definitely a very
skilled one, as he delivers excellent
interpretations. The sarabande Les Soupirs
(track 5) is a very good example of
his art, in particular his subtle use
of rubato and the sensible application
of 'inégalité'.
In terms of repertoire
and performance this disc rises above
the average and I strongly recommend
it to anyone who loves the harpsichord.
Johan van Veen
for details
Mario Martinoli (harpsichord) 
