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Although principally known as a dramatic composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau also made a substantial contribution to the French keyboard repertoire, an important Baroque genre that reached its highest point in the harpsichord works of François Couperin. Like most of the output of the French clavecinistes, Rameau's harpsichord works were gathered into collections generally arranged in books according to key. There are three such major collections in the instance of Rameau; the Premier livre de pièces de clavecin (1706), the Pièces de clavecin (1724), and the present anthology, published around 1729. The Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin includes 15 pieces. Like all French keyboard works, they are notable for such characteristic devices as the broken chord (stile brisé) taken over by French keyboard composers from the influential school of early seventeenth century lutenists. Also highly characteristic are the lavishly decorated melodic lines, based on a code of ornamentation illustrated in didactic prefaces by composers such as d'Anglebert and Couperin. Souvenir from Versailles Harpsichords : Trevor Pinnock
