The Pièces de clavecin en concert, published in 1741, constitute the only chamber music by Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...

 and were composed in full maturity; they came after his music for solo harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

, and just before Les Indes galantes

Les Indes galantes

Les Indes galantes is an opéra-ballet consisting of a prologue and four entrées by Jean-Philippe Rameau with libretto by Louis Fuzelier...

.

They are very different from the trio sonata

Trio sonata

The trio sonata is a musical form that was popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries.A trio sonata is written for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the name trio sonata...

s in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 manner (such as those of Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...

), where the harpsichord is only providing the role of a continuo

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

 bass. In Rameau's works, the harpsichord is at the heart of the ensemble, playing a fully written-out obbligato

Obbligato

In classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified...

 part with virtuosity, with the accompaniment falling to the violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 and viola da gamba. Rameau provided for differing instrumental combinations: the flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 can replace the violin and a second violin can replace the viola da gamba. It is possible to compare these works with the violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

, written earlier, around 1720, in which the melodic material is shared equally between the violin and harpsichord and the harpsichord part is obbligato nearly throughout.

They are divided into five concerts of 3 to 6 movements with typical French 'character' names, some of which can be enigmatic: a name of a place (Le Vézinet), of character (La timide, L'agaçante) or of persons (La Forqueray, La Marais, La Rameau). The last type of appellation was not used by Jean-Philippe Rameau for his solo harpsichord works.

Deuxième concert (Second Concert in G major)

1. La Laborde
2. La Boucon
3. L'agaçante
4. Premier menuet, Deuxième menuet

c. 19 minutes

Troisième concert (Third Concert in A major)

1. La Lapoplinière
2. La timide
3. Premier tambourin, Deuxième tambourin

c. 13 minutes

Quatrième concert (Fourth Concert in B flat major)

1. La pantomime
2. L'indiscrète
3. La Rameau

c. 11 minutes

Cinquième concert (Fifth Concert in D minor)

1. La Forqueray
2. La Cupis
3. La Marais

c. 13 minutes

Lengths are drawn from the Trevor Pinnock

Trevor Pinnock

Trevor David Pinnock CBE is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical...

/Rachel Podger

Rachel Podger

Rachel Podger is an English violinist specialising in the performance of baroque music. She often conducts baroque orchestras from the violin, and in 2004 took up a guest directorship with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, having previously been leader of The English Concert from 1997 to...

/Jonathan Manson

Jonathan Manson

Jonathan Manson is a Scottish cellist and viol player. Born in Edinburgh, he studied cello with Jane Cowan and later went on to the Eastman School of Music in New York, where he studied with Steven Doane and Christel Thielmann. He studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken in The Hague.While a...

recording.