This set of 2
CDs presents forty five selected harpsichord pieces
of François Couperin, beautifully adapted to
modern piano while preserving the elements of the
Baroque style.
Ray McIntyre's
biography has appeared in various editions of American
Keyboard Artists (Chicago) and International Who's
Who in Music (Cambridge, England). He served as director
of the Music and Art Center, Goddard College, Plainfield,
Vermont, from 1960-1970. From
1970-1972, Mr. McIntyre lectured on Music History
at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria
and was a Professor of Piano at the Konservatorium
der Stadt Wien (Vienna) from 1972 until 1983. During
this time, he pursued his passionate interest in research
on historical performance practice by availing himself
of the rich musical resources available to him. In
1983 he returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where
he lives with his family and teaches piano and harpsichord.
He is a frequent
adjudicator and lecturer-recitalist on historical
performance for various organisations, including the
National Convention of the Music Teachers National
Association, Wichita, Kansas, 1989, and was awarded
a Master Teacher Certificate by that organisation
in 1993.
As a harpsichordist,
McIntyre rates with the best in the land," said
the Detroit Free Press in 1956.
In 1968, the
New York Times wrote of him, "McIntyre's forceful
playing...showed a fine ability to accumulate the
special austere kind of grandness of sonority and
line the harpsichord is capable of...a serious musician
with intelligent, individual ideas."
Well informed
on historical performance practice, and with his extensive
background as a concert harpsichordist, Mr. McIntyre
brings to life the harpsichord pieces of Couperin
on the piano (and harpsichord) by demonstrating that
with an understanding of the style elements, touch,
articulation, note inequality, treatment of silence
and an understanding of ornamentation, the harpsichord
pieces of Couperin become universal keyboard works.
