Transcriptions for string sextet of Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts of 1741, the Concerts en sextuor were published by Saint-Saëns in the monumental edition of Rameau’s works that he undertook in the nineteenth century for Durand. Hitherto they had existed only in a manuscript bearing the name Decroix and dated 1768 (four years after the composer’s death).

These concerts, consisting of typical French character pieces, evoking a place (Le Vézinet), a temperament (La Timide) or a person (La Marais), show the composer’s skills at capturing character, mood and colour.

This performance on period instruments by Thibault Noally and Les Accents brings out all the warmth of this version of Rameau’s compositions.