Blandine Verlet

Blandine Verlet (born February 27, 1942 in Paris) is a harpsichordist and a harpsichord teacher. Born into a musical family, she was the seventh of ten children, and in 1957 gained admission to the Paris Conservatoire, studying piano and harpsichord. Having decided on her specialty, she studied harpsichord with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris, Ruggero Gerlin in Siena and Ralph Kirckpatrick in the US. A significant competition prize in Paris in 1963 led to engagements in Italy and West Germany.

Verlet has been widely praised for her recordings of Bach, including the 'Goldberg Variations', but it is perhaps in the music of her compatriot Francois Couperin that she displays exceptional sensitivity and imagination. Verlet recorded Couperin's complete works in the 1970s and 80s, and in late 2011 she returned to re-record five 'ordres' on the period Henri Hemsch harpsichord. Verlet wrote a poem in celebration of Couperin which accompanied the release, the closing lines of which exemplify her great imaginative empathy with this key French composer:

                         We hope we too have managed to grasp
                         your art of playing the harpsichord.
                         The art of both poetry and precision.
                         The art of whispering, murmuring.
                         The song without words, lighter for having no text.
                         Wandering shadows, expressions of the heart.
                         Our thanks to you, Francois Couperin.    (tr. Mary Pardoe)

Selected Discography

External links

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