You come away from the recording of these two complete suites with great respect for the young Frenchman's musicality and technical facility, and even greater respect for Rameau's imagination and harmonic invention, which is exactly as it should be.

Tharaud combines pianistic imagination and stylistic sensitivity to locate the fidgety energy of La poule, the rhythmic playfulness of Les tricotets and the grandeur and verve of the Gavotte et doubles, and his playing has clarity and brilliance. To my mind no other pianist has reproduced the spirit of this composer more enchantingly.

The pianist Alexandre Tharaud has recorded a disc of Rameau that quashes the "period instrument" argument as successfully as Glenn Gould does for Bach…warmly expressed and beautifully recorded.