Rameau: The Complete Works for Solo Harpsichord review – nicely sonorous

Rameau’s gloriously varied keyboard suites, combining traditional dances with fantastic character pieces such as the famous La poule, have received welcome attention in this anniversary year, with Stephen Gutman’s complete traversal on piano and Mahan Estafani on harpsichord to come. Norway’s Ketil Haugsand is little known here: he is a Leonhardt pupil who sometimes sounds a touch severe in this ebullient music. The great Les Cyclopes is too deadpan, but in the E minor suite he suddenly blossoms with a flexible Gigue en rondeau and a chirpy Rappel des oiseaux. Haugsand plays a Flemish-style instrument that he built, not as rich as Trevor Pinnock’s harpsichord from Edinburgh or Christophe Rousset’s historic French sound, but nicely sonorous.