FRANÇOIS COUPERIN L'Apothéose de Lulli. L'Apothéose de Corelli, for two harpsichords William Christie, Christophe Rousset

Two apotheoses of the "goûts réunis".
It was the time when France of the Classical Age was at great pains to counter the Italian style - personified by the great composer and virtuoso Corelli - with a style of her own, in the person, as everyone knows, of Lully, whose name was French only in its final "y"! François Couperin, though, never took part in the business, since in his eyes the two "goûts" were of equal value. So it was that he first paid tribute to Corelli in this grande sonade (sic) conceived as a kind of apotheosis. Then a year later L'Apothéose "composée à la mémoire immortelle de l'incomparable Monsieur" de Lully presented a famous counterbalance, all to the glory of French music…

William Christie plays a harpsichord by Anthony Sidey, 1976, after an early 18th-century French instrument; Christophe Rousset plays a French harpsichord by Bruce Kennedy, after Taskin, Château d’Oex, 1985.

This title was released for the first time in 1988.