Gavotte (v. 2)

This is Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Gavotte et 6 doubles”, music which has been with me for a very long time.

As I am not getting any younger (71 or almost at the time of writing), I finally decided to listen to it with my eyes, and as I have several favourite recordings of it, I embarked on making three versions, each one with a different musician, 2 harpsichordists (William Christie and Trevor Pinnock), the third one will be with a magnificent pianist (more on that later).

The first version, with William Christie, is here: https://vimeo.com/231092177

This one is with Trevor Pinnock, a musician who is and has been very important for me, as a conductor and as a harpsichordist, he was the artistic director and principal conductor of the National Art Centre Orchestra in Ottawa (1991–1996) when I lived in that part of Ontario.
I have many fond memories of his tenure there, I felt his departure was a real loss.

I love the progression of intensity in this music, so much so that I am grateful for the return of the initial theme at the very end of this version, leaving at the usual spot would have been bordering on the “too much”, this enables us to land softly.
Superb music, exceptional musician.