FORQUERAY: Suites de Clavecin Michael Borgstede [CD de audio] Michael Borgstede and Forqueray

Father (Antoine 1679-1745) and son Jean-Baptiste (1699-1782) Forqueray had the kind of relationship that wouldn't be out of place in a modern-day soap opera. They hated each other. The father's envy of his son's great musical talent (Antoine was a famous violin virtuoso) led him to have Jean-Baptiste imprisoned on trumped-up charges of philandering and theft. And he was banished from the kingdom for 10 years under penalty of death. A petition from influential friends and his students freed him and pardoned him in 1726. In 1747 Jean-Baptiste, already the leading violist of his generation, published a collection of Viole Pieces composed by M. Forqueray le Pere, although the content attributable to his father is probably negligent. At the same time, he published a set of keyboard transcriptions of the same works, a shrewd business decision. The transcriptions are extraordinary, with highly virtuoso writing, including the crossing of hands in La Clemente in the 4th Suite. One reason for the magnificence of the transcription could be that Jean-Baptiste had just married the very attractive Marie-Rose Dubois, who also happened to be one of the most brilliant harpsichordists of the time. One can only wonder what role she played in the transcripts.