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Coup d'Archet proudly presents L'Archet d'Or, the imprint for the true connoisseur.
Available by subscription.

Subscription for AO Series One and Two is £300 per series, inclusive of P&P .
Subscription for AO Series Three, which also includes ORSP02, is £330 inclusive.

The making of the jackets

L'Archet d'Or Series III

	OR IX - Agnelle Bundervoët: Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin (Six pieces pour piano) / Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1964/68) Details
	OR X - Germaine Thyssens-Valentin & Loewenguth Qtt: Fauré, Piano Quintet No 2 op 115 in C Minor for Piano and Strings / Fantasy for Flute and Piano (with Michel Debost, flute)(1961) Details
	OR XI - André Levy: J.S. Bach - Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello. Suite No 2 in D minor BWV 1008 / Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 (1962/1961) Details
	OR XII - Le Trio de France (Jeanne Gautier, Geneviève Joy, André Levy): Joachin Turiña, Piano Trio No 1, op 35 / Ravel, Trio pour Piano, Violon et Violoncelle (1960/1958) Details
	OR Special Pressings - 12” 45s ORSP 01 - Maurice Maréchal, Odette Pigault (piano) Yves Levallois/ Henriette Roget - In Memorium / Fauré – Elegy for ‘Cello and Piano (op 24)(1958) ORSP 02 - Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, Pierre Mollet (baritone) Fauré – Le Bonne Chanson (op 61) Details

L'Archet d'Or Series II - 2003

The 2003 series is now available. Subscribe here

Read the HiFi Plus review of L'Archet d'Or 2003 series here (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 138Kb)

The Marcel Meyer Mozart LP will prove to be a great surprise to those who have felt that her style was not suited to Mozart. I find it one of her most exciting recorded performances, comparable in spirit to her famous Rameau for Discophile Francais. The Gautier record is remarkable for her exceptional Stravinsky performances, which includes the transcription she made together with Stravinsky himself of the Ballad from The Fairy’s Kiss. The Maurice Maréchal LP features very special and personal renderings of Beethoven and Brahms Cello Sonatas. To hear such intimate performances of Maréchal in recordings of such exceptional presence is a truly moving experience. The fourth record in this year’s set features the wonderful Agnelle Bundervoët performing the most superb and magical interpretations of Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and Book One of Debussy’s Images I have heard. All these magnificent performances, from these greatest of French performers are complimented by the outstanding quality of the recordings. We are all fortunate that these tapes have survived the years, for indeed a great many do not.

	OR V - Marcelle Meyer: Mozart, Piano Sonatas K498a, K332/Fantasy K396/Adagio K 540 (1953/56) Details
	OR VI - Jeanne Gautier/Nadine Desouches: Stravinsky (four pieces)/Ravel/Martinu (1.1.56) Jeanne Gautier/Lelia Gousseau: Roussel, Sonata No.2 (13.4.57) Details
	OR VII - Maurice Maréchal/Cecile Ousset: Beethoven, op 5.2, Brahms, op 38, Cello Sonatas (1.1.58/13.10.59) Details
	OR VIII - Agnelle Bundervoët: Ravel, Gaspard de la Nuit/ Debussy, Images Book 1(1959) Details

L'Archet d'Or Series I - 2002

There are a few remaining sets of the 2002 L'Archet d'Or series, described below. Subscribe here

Read the HiFi Plus review of L'Archet d'Or 2002 series here (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 1Mb)

	OR I - Jeanne Gautier/Yvonne Lefébure: Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano K379 (31.5.59)   ; Jeanne Gautier/Aimee Van De Wiele: Bach Sonata No.5 in F minor for Violin and Harpsichord (24.5.59).
	OR II - Jeanne Gautier/André Levy: Ravel Duo for Violin and 'Cello (27.5.61) .
	OR III - Jacqueline Eymar: Mozart K332 /Chopin Funeral Sonata (10.02.62).
	OR IV - Camilla Wicks: Encore Pieces (12.2.51) .

2002 series in slipcase

L'Archet d'Or issues are limited to 250 numbered copies, on LP only, presented in hand made jackets, silk-screen printed with original designs and including informative notes and photographs (where possible). These recordings are licensed exclusively to Coup d'Archet and have never before been issued. All are copyright approved by MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ltd.) - these are NOT pirate recordings. We continue our practice of 100% analogue mastering on lacquer, and manufacturing to the highest standards available.

Subscription only @ £300 per annum, including P&P. Subscribers will be presented with a cloth-bound slipcase to house each year's releases. Limited to one set per subscriber.

A note about artist biographies, jackets and the future

I have had a couple of queries regarding the lack of notes on the artists. The problem is that there is almost no existing information on these artists. After my research on Johanna Martzy yielded such an abundance of material, I have found it incredible that these great artists should leave so little evidence of their lives. We know that their records are rare and can command breathtaking prices, but what of the people behind these impossible artefacts? After the Second War, the French critical establishment tended to consider French artists to be lesser than those of say, Germany or Russia. For a country well known for its national and cultural chauvinism this is somewhat shocking. It would seem that unless they had the established profile of Thibaud or Cortot, they received little or no attention or promotion. Those lucky few who were acknowledged were generally appreciated more as teachers than performers.

Series Two includes a substantial biographical piece on Maurice Maréchal and will feature several photographs. There are similar pieces on Agnelle Bundervoët and Marcelle Meyer. Camilla Wicks is kindly helping me prepare a revealing biographical piece, which will be presented as a four page insert to accompany ORIV. As for Jacqueline Eymar, further recordings will be appearing in a future series so I can only hope we discover more than the one news-clipping found to date.

It was planned that photographs of Jeanne Gautier would feature, along with her tantalisingly minimal biographical information, with the discs featuring Lelia Gousseau in Series Two. However given the promise of new information coming to light we have postponed any printed material for the time being.

AO is an ongoing work in progress. Information, like the recordings themselves, will be made available as it is revealed. It is very much like archaeology. I hope that you will enjoy this process of discovery as much as I.

Anyone who has any interest in the jacket art design should know that it was achieved without recourse to any digital technology. All the drawing was done by hand, the film was produced photographically, each colour screen printed by hand and the jackets constructed by hand.

I welcome your comments and opinions. Contact me here