The harpsichordist culminates years of intensive work with a 10CD release of almost 300 works, to create a powerful meditation on Louis Couperin and his universe (14 November, Warner/Erato)
Rondeau’s 2025-26 season features Louis Couperin focussed weekends, residencies and series, including at Paris Philharmonie, Utrecht Festival, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and London’s Wigmore Hall
Visionary harpsichordist Jean Rondeau presents a groundbreaking project this autumn around the complete works of Louis Couperin (c.1626-1661). The unprecedented project, for which he took eight months off from performing, is the culmination of years of dedicated, intense musicological preparation by Rondeau. It was recorded in four locations from Normandy to Tuscany, often in challenging conditions, on some of the oldest and rarest organs and harpsichords of Europe. The result is a 10CD + 1DVD boxset totalling almost 300 works (14 November, Warner Classics/Erato), including music by 12 additional composers – Louis Couperin’s brothers, his contemporaries, his masters and his disciples – thus offering a holistic immersion into the composer’s universe. Rondeau aptly calls it the “project of a lifetime.”
Rondeau’s focus on Louis Couperin will see him bring the composer to audiences several times over the coming season, including a weekend-long ‘marathon’ at the Philharmonie de Paris (22-24 November) and a performance of the complete works in seven concerts over four days at the Utrecht Festival in September, where he will be artist-in-residence. Rondeau will give a series of four Couperin recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall throughout 2025-26 (28 November; 11 March; 1 May; 21 July), three concerts at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (31 January); a Japanese tour in March 2026; as well as recitals featuring Louis Couperin at La Roque d’Antheron, Colmar, Chambéry, Chaux de Fonds, Lucerne, Basel, and Amsterdam Concertgebouw, among many others.
The oft-overlooked composer (not least in favour of his better known nephew, François) marks his 400th anniversary in 2026 and, according to Rondeau, “defines the essence of the harpsichord, marking a major turning point in the history of the instrument.” He continues: “There is something about Louis Couperin’s music that transcends the instrument and inspires in a way that few other works can. I feel this type of complete, holistic cycle would only be possible with his music.”
The project is breathtaking not only for its scale – involving an extensive team from fellow musicians, historians and instrument experts, to the videographer Erwan Ricordeau, tuner and keyboard expert Jullian Bauduin, to the producer and editor Aline Blondiau who accompanied Rondeau throughout the journey – but also for the depth of commitment and knowledge demonstrated by Rondeau in order to paint such an extensive Couperin universe. Many new transcriptions feature throughout the project by Rondeau, who also undertook the lengthy process of assembling the individual dances into suites, thereby creating new arrangements. Furthermore, the recordings include three complete albums of works for the organ; almost 70 works in total, from Fantasies and Fugues to liturgical music. Then there is chamber music, such as works for viola da gamba and for oboe ensembles. The project notably showcases Couperin’s famous ‘unmeasured prelude,’ a unique, semi-improvised, form without bar-lines which the composer was the first to embrace and for which he was celebrated.
Rondeau comments: “Several chapters marked out this project: solitary time with the texts; a complete immersion in the work of Louis Couperin and his contemporaries; and a period of powerful introspection against the backdrop of such a dense body of work…. These were years of preparation, organisation and reflection, during which concerts and my other commitments were set aside.”
Whilst appearing at the core of the harpsichord repertoire, the music of Louis Couperin also sits deeply within Rondeau’s own musical identity, harking back to the origins of his relationship with the instrument. Almost like a mother tongue, it is the first music he ever played on the harpsichord, aged five or six. It was indeed an unmeasured prelude by Couperin that first introduced Rondeau to the instrument: “A few innocent notes, a few seconds of sound and resonance that evoked so many things: the delicacy of the harpsichord, the depth of a musical story, immersion in a distant age, the simplicity of the musical mystery and the immeasurable affection that flowed from it – in short, a dazzling experience as only a child can be capable of. This unbreakable bond has been forged ever since.”
The instruments employed in the project tell their own story.Central to Rondeau’s Couperin project is the extremely rare 1624 Ruckers harpsichord at the Musée Unterlinden (Colmar, France), restored by Christopher Clarke. “Simply put, it is the perfect instrument on which to play this repertoire,” Rondeau says. In addition to the Ruckers harpsichord, Rondeau used instruments crafted by today’s greatest living harpsichord makers, including Philippe Humeau, David Ley and Bruce Kennedy. Likewise, the two organ CDs take advantage of two one-of-a-kind antique instruments: the 17th century French organ in the church of Notre-Dame in Juvigny, France, made by Jean de Villers and Jacques Carouge in 1663; and the Lesselier organ from 1631 in the church of Saint-Michel in Bolbec, France, one of a very few 17th-century pieces that has remained almost entirely intact into the 21st century.
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ALBUM RELEASE: 14 November, Warner Classics / Erato
Boxset of 10 CD + 1DVD
booklet: https://isaac.wmg.com/app/#/s/zUfrvSAz8O
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Selection of Jean Rondeau’s Louis Couperin focussed concerts in 2025-26 (for full concert list click here)
September 2025
3-6 September Utrecht Festival – Louis Couperin complete works in seven concerts over four days – Artist in Residence
November 2025
22-24 November – Philharmonie de Paris – Couperin weekend
26 November – Cite Bleue Geneva recital (harpsichord suites)
28 November – Wigmore Hall recital (1/4)
January 2026
15 January Colmar Couperin recital + Couperin 400th anniversary
17-18 January Weekend à Chambéry
25 January Chaux de Fonds recital
26 January Basel recital
31 January Elbphilharmonie Hamburg – three recitals
March 2026
8 March – Concertgebouw Amsterdam recital (harpsichord suites)
11 March – Wigmore Hall (2/4) mixed programme including Couperin harpsichord suites / with Ricercar consort
15 March – Festival Baroque Pontoise Couperin suites
20-30 March – Japan tour
May
1 May – Wigmore Hall recital (3/4)
12 May – Opera de Bordeaux recital (harpsichord suites)
June
Klavier Festival Ruhr recital
July
21 July – Wigmore Hall recital (4/4)
August
3 August – Brugge recital
22 August – Festival de Sable recital