What recordings of 17th-century French harpsichord music (1980-2020) tell us about interpretative strategies and embellishment styles

This paper explores interpretative strategies and embellishment styles of 17th-century French harpsichord music in recordings released during 1980-2020. Through a detailed investigation of recorded performances, this study examines the ways in which modern musicians have re-interpreted harpsichord music over four decades, and how these interpretations have evolved over time. Since much of the 17th-century French harpsichord repertory has survived in manuscripts in which the notation is often incomplete, the art of embellishing both melodies and textures is crucial to the interpretation, and that a deeper understanding of this art is desirable for nuanced and effective performances. Generally speaking, the interpretative approaches and embellishment styles in earlier performances (before 2000) tend to discrete with a certain avoidance of blatant virtuosity and emotional excesses, while performances since 2000 tend to embrace more individualistic approaches to interpretation. In particular, the younger generation of harpsichordists such as Jean Rondeau and Justin Taylor expressly recreate pieces with a range of improvisation skills beyond historically-informed techniques. By exceeding the practice of deriving embellishments inspired by research, performances in post-2000 recordings demonstrate a notable shift of focus from historically-informed awareness to creative engagement with the music.