World-premiere recordings of chamber-music collections by an overlooked master of the French Baroque. With two previous collections for Brilliant Classics - the Premier livre de pièces d'orgue on 2CDs and Trois Livres de Pieces de Clavecin on 4CDs - Pieter-Jan Belder has become the pre-eminent modern exponent of Jean-Francois Dandrieu, as reflected by the enthusiastic welcome in Fanfare for the organ volume: 'The playing here... is simply terrific. [Belder] has completely absorbed the French Baroque idiom as a native musical tongue and speaks it with absolute fluency... For anyone who loves the organ repertoire of the French Baroque, this is an essential purchase; highly recommended.' In this latest collection, Belder invites the listener to delve further into the output of this Parisian musician, who left behind precious few examples of his art on his death in 1739, but who won the admiration of both fellow musicians and royal patrons, most notably Louis XV. Published as Opus 1 in 1705 and Opus 2 around five years later, these collections of trio sonatas and violin sonatas represent a thorough and skilful assimilation of 'modern' Italian grammar - and most notably the influence of Corelli - into French gesture and style. Opus 1 represents a remarkably mature and purposeful integration of styles: at just 23, Dandrieu confidently asserts a distinct voice by seamlessly integrating the expressive nuances of the French harpsichord school into this Italian framework. Dandrieu's Op.2 sonatas do not merely reflect Italian influence; they actively transform it: in their formal clarity and expressive depth they embody both the elegance of Versailles and the vitality of Rome. To complete this volume, Pieter-Jan Belder plays three books of harpsichord pieces from Dandrieu's accomplished youth: most of them very brief dances, no more than a minute long, deftly sketching an idea for the equal enjoyment of performer and listener. Like the chamber music sets, these have never been recorded complete before, and the set as a whole advances our appreciation for Dandrieu as a major figure of the French Baroque.

The viola da gamba is not dead, despite a claim to the contrary in the Dictionary of Musicians by German composer, organist and cellist Ernst Ludwig Gerber (1746-1819). From the 16th century to the end of the 18th, the viola da gamba experienced a true apotheosis, becoming the favoured instrument for bourgeois entertainment, particularly in Germany, France, Italy and England, even if the instrument's origins lie in the Spanish Renaissance. Because of these associations with the aristocracy, but also because of advances in musical style that demanded more from the role of the lower member of the string family, the gamba lost ground to the newer cello during the French Revolution. Limited interest in the instrument persisted through the 19th century, until a rebirth occurred thanks to German cellists Christian Dobereiner (1874-1961) and Paul Grummer (1879-1965), and later the Austrian Karl Maria Schwamberger (1905-1967) and Swiss cellist August Wenzinger (1905-1996), a pupil of Grummer's and a founder, in 1925, of one of Germany's first early music ensembles. Wenzinger was appointed cello and viola da gamba teacher at Basle's new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) and Jordi Savall (b.1941) would become his pupils. Dobereiner was one of the most important pioneers at the dawn of modern research into historical performance practice, considered to have revived both the viola da gamba and the baryton from obscurity. From his Sarabande, in Handelian style, only the solo part has survived, and the basso continuo has been reconstructed by Matteo Malagoli. Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) was an important Russian pianist and composer. He invented his own harmonic language, combining major and minor hexachords in a pentatonic scale that blended old Russian patterns and Georgian (Caucasian) harmonies. During a stay in France he became friends with Paul Grummer and in 1969 published a lovely Sonata da chiesa for viola da gamba and organ dedicated to Grummer and his daughter Sylvia. Giuseppe Selmi (1912-1987) was a gifted concert cellist, performing both with orchestra and piano. As a composer, he wrote several works for solo cello, with piano and with harp (he played in a duo with his wife Maria Dongellini). Following the gift of a viola da gamba (built by Paolo Leonori in 1952) from his wife in the 1970s, he became a passionate advocate for the instrument, writing works for it with harp or solo. Giacomo Nones (1929-2017) dedicated himself from a young age to classical music and the popular music from his native Trentino, studying violin, organ and viola da gamba, as well as musicology and organology. He has edited transcriptions and publications of Renaissance and Baroque music and has collaborated with various early music ensembles. Passionate about contemporary music, in particular 'computer music', he wrote his 10 small Algorithms for two viols with the use of a computer according to theories by the Russian mathematician Rudolf Zaripov. His only other viola da gamba works are the very different Partitas on the Lutheran chorale Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan for gamba and organ, and the Fantasia for solo viol on the Kyrie of the Gregorian 'Orbis factor' Mass. Riccardo Giavina (1937-2019) was a Piedmontese pianist and composer, later a teacher and headmaster at the 'Bonporti' Conservatory of Trento and Riva del Garda. A friend of Giacomo Nones, in April 1977 he dedicated his three short pieces for three viols (soprano, tenor and bass) to the other composer. Written in late Renaissance style, they are aimed at extending the original literature for viola da gamba into the 20th century. - Recorded April 2022 in Silvelle; July, August & December 2023 in Ponte nelle Alpi; and January 2024 in Trento (Italy) - Booklet in English contains liner notes and a profile of each of the composers - Matteo Malagoli plays a viola da gamba by Marco Salerno (Rome - Barcelona, 2004) - Cristina Centa plays a Salvi harp - Stefano Rattini plays a harpsichord by Fabrizio Acanfora (Naples, 1997) and at the Carlo Vegezzi-Bossi organ (1907; restored Mascioni, 2000) of the Trento Philharmonic Society

A new and complete survey of the attractive body of cello sonatas which, in his day, helped to make Antonio Caldara a Viennese rival to the fame of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice. Born in Venice as the son of a violinist, Caldara grew up as a chorister at the Basilica di San Marco, and won important posts in Mantua, Rome and Barcelona, as a maestro di capella to royal courts. But it was his move to Vienna during the 1710s which secured his name and his fortune. Becoming Vice-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court in 1716, Caldara introduced the late Venetian style to Central Europe, and it's influence remained a determining factor in both church music and opera as well as instrumental music until long after his death in 1736. Through sacred works such as the oratorio Maddalena al piedi di Cristo, Caldara has won a following on record in the modern era. However, his surviving output of instrumental music has remained largely unexplored. Publishing his Op.1 Trio Sonatas in 1688, Caldara refers to himself as a 'musico di violoncello', and there can be no doubt from this collection that he knew his way around the instrument. They were composed between 22 April and 26 July 1735: Caldara's sheer facility has perhaps told against him, with a total output of over three thousand separate works. But he knew his craft, and melody seems to have come readily to him. A few Lezioni (Nos. 43, 23 & 1) from Caldara's published instruction method for learning the cello are included as preludes to Sonatas Nos. 8, 10 and 12. Most of the sonatas belong to the four-movement 'sonata da chiesa' form, but Caldara also used the three-movement archetype which became increasingly standard. There is no shortage of opportunities for virtuosic display, as well as for lyricism. These recordings are made by musicians immersed in the Italian late-Baroque world. In it's expanded form, L'Arte dell' Arco has made much praised recordings of Haydn and Vivaldi for Brilliant Classics, including a comprehensive box of Vivaldi's Concertos Opp. 1-12. These Italian musicians speak and sing Caldara's music with unforced fluency. - Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), an Italian Baroque composer, was born in Venice, where he was a chorister in the famous San Marco, with Legrenzi as his teacher. He soon spread his wings across Europe and held several important posts in Mantua, the Spanish court in Barcelona, Rome and eventually the post of Kapellmeister at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Caldara left a substantial oeuvre, consisting of instrumental music in the tradition of Corelli, sacred music and operas. - Caldara's sonatas for cello and basso continuo exemplify the transition from the late Baroque style toward the emerging galant aesthetic. These works are clearly written by a master of the instrument, as Caldara evidently was. The sonatas typically follow a four-movement structure, alternating slow and fast tempos, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa. They blend lyrical, cantabile lines with virtuosic passages, showing the cello's agility and warm tone. - Played by one of Italy's foremost "Early Music" cellists, Francesco Galligioni, playing with fellow members of the ensemble L'Arte dell'Arco. He successfully recorded the complete cello concertos by Vivaldi, works by Dall'Abaco, sonatas by Lanzetti and others.

The second volume of the recording of the complete Flute Sonatas by Quantz! Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) was a composer, theorist, flutist and flute maker of great name and fame. Despite being of humble origin he quickly rose to great eminence, becoming a personal friend and court composer of Frederick The Great, living happily at the sumptuous Potsdam court for 32 years, where he produced hundreds of works for the flute, playing them on the specially devised instruments that brought out their particular melodic beauty. Quantz writes about the ideal instrument: "In general the most pleasing tone quality (sonus) on the flute is that which more nearly resembles a contralto than a soprano, or which imitates the chest tones of the human voice. You must strive as much as possible to acquire the tone quality of those flute players who know how to produce a clear, penetrating, thick, round, masculine, and withal pleasing sound from the instrument." Benedek Csalog: "The present CD series, which seeks to record some 200 extant sonatas, employs modern copies of Quantz's instruments, most at this lower pitch. Through these, together with the applied performance style and technique, we hope to demonstrate convincingly the uniqueness of the Quantz flute, and the necessity of using such instruments to reveal the true character of his music." The Hungarian baroque flute player Benedek Csalog, winner of most prestigious early music competitions, among others Concours Musica Antique, Brugge (Belgium), graduated at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in the class of Barthold Kuijken. He has been performing as a soloist in most of the European countries, Japan, North and South America, and the Middle East. He was a guest artist at major festivals, such as Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival van Vlaanderen, Stockholm Early Music Festival, St. Petersburg Early Music Festival, etc. He played with iconic artists such as William Christie, Sigiswald Kuijken, Barthold Kuijken and Emma Kirkby as his partners. On these 2 CDs Benedek Csalog is partnered by Dora Petery and Fanni Edocs on the harpsichord.

With this new recording, Fernando de Luca fills a significant gap in the catalogue of French Baroque music. While sonatas of Tapray have been recorded on a modern piano, there is no recording of them on the harpsichord; all the more significant because Tapray stands as a pivotal figure in the history of French keyboard music, positioned at the crossroads between the harpsichord and the fortepiano. Born in 1738, Jean-François Tapray worked in Paris, Besançon, and elsewhere as an organist, until ill health forced his retirement in 1786. However, he continued to compose, at least until the turn of the century, and died in 1822. From 1773 onwards, he had embraced the new technology of the fortepiano and published a Keyboard Method (Op. 25) for the instrument. All the same, he continued to write specifically for the harpsichord too, such as a Symphony Op. 12 for harpsichord and orchestra, from 1780. Thus his works, such as the sonatas presented here, reflect both the culmination and the last flowering of the harpsichord tradition in France. The Variations on Les Sauvages is often cited as one of the last great virtuoso works for the harpsichord in France. Tapray's piece is both a transcription and a reworking of a famous air by Rameau, taken from his opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes (1735). The four variations embrace a diverse array of styles, from the cascades of the modern galant style to the unstable rhythms of the French Baroque, and finally a synthesis of both German and Italian style in the last variation. In this sense, the Variations do not so much look back on the Baroque era as absorb it's style within a rapidly evolving culture. The sonatas, likewise, capture a galant aesthetic with their alternation between spirited Allegro movements, graceful airs, and highly stylized dances. For this recording, Fernando de Luca has chosen a harpsichord modelled after a Blanchet instrument of 1754, facilitating a precise articulation, expressive touch, and dynamic responsiveness well-suited to Tapray's music.

A Thousand Charms invites listeners into two centuries of English song, from Campion's intimate ayres to Purcell's theatrical masterpieces and Handel's deeply expressive arias. The programme traces how solo song evolved from lute-inspired simplicity to richly ornamented drama, blending poetry with music of striking clarity and depth. Grace Davidson's pure, agile voice and Julian Perkins's sensitive harpsichord accompaniment bring freshness and immediacy to this repertoire, emphasising it's refinement, inventiveness and humanity. For anyone drawn to the beauty of early music, this recording offers an engaging journey through some of it's most timeless works.

It is, quite simply, excellent, rich in the most beautiful 'affects', wonderfully transparent in sound, with a slight touch of swing in the fast movements that really allows this music to blossom, lively in the allegro, and wonderfully sentimental (but by no means saccharine) in the slow movements. This is what a reviewer wrote to us in his evaluation of this recording before it's release. Indeed, these concertos, recorded here for the first time on period instruments, possess a distinctive beauty that makes them "worth the fuss". In these virtuoso and weightless creations, their composer Joseph Umstatt (1711-1762) proves himself a connoisseur and master of the gallant style that took the entire music world by storm at the time - how else could he have spent the last decade of his life as court composer and kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg?

The 12 Sonatas for mandolino and continuo by Francesco Weber represent one of the most interesting collections of compositions for the baroque mandolino that have come down to us. Despite his German surname clearly suggesting German ancestry, Francesco Weber, was an Italian lutenist / theorbist / mandolinist and composer, whose career was mainly in England. My research started from his will - drawn up in London under the name of John Francis Weber on April 13, 1745 - and proved several months after his death on June 5, 1751, in which the 'Republic of Genova' is often mentioned concerning assets and family properties. The 5-course mandolin used for this recording was built in Genoa in 1717 by Andrea Weber (1658-1740). It is the only surviving example by this maker, and one of the very few surviving Genoese baroque 'mandolinos.' It is an instrument recently discovered in a private collection, therefore completely unknown even to early mandolin experts, before this recording. An even more extraordinary aspect that distinguishes this disc is the fact that it represents a truly exceptional case - perhaps unprecedented at least in the field of early plucked string instruments - in which the music of a composer is recorded using an instrument built by his father.

Transcriptions for two harpsichords of works by Gdansk composers and Kapellmeisters, spanning the mature Renaissance through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The album's title evokes the vogue for monumental polychoral compositions that once enriched the daily life of Gdansk's patrician society. Through bold reconstructions and the virtuosic artistry of two harpsichordists affiliated with the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk, the works of these ambitious masters of old Gdansk are given a new voice - radiant with a splendour worthy of the gilded interiors of Artus Court.

A live concert recording of the one-act farce based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, captured during the 29th edition of the Easter Beethoven Festival in 2025. This release is based on the complete and authentic Milan manuscript, rather than the later versions that also circulated under different titles. The Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of it's chief conductor Lukasz Borowicz, joins forces with six outstanding soloists to deliver a performance of irresistible charm, virtuosic brilliance, and dynamic theatrical momentum. Thanks to it's vivid pacing and finely judged structure, the nearly 80 minutes of music pass in what feels like an instant, carrying the listener toward the work's unmistakably happy resolution to it's amorous entanglements.

Rediscover the music of brilliant Italian keyboard virtuosos whose works are rarely heard today. Songs, toccatas, ricercars, fugues, and dances come together in a richly woven program that captures the excitement of an era when instrumental music was just beginning to find it's own voice. Rooted in the expressive world of vocal madrigals yet pushing toward new independence, this repertoire reflects a moment of bold musical innovation. With charisma and imagination, Corina Marti brings these works to life, inviting listeners into intimate, personal moments at the keyboard-moments of reflection and creative freedom once enjoyed by court musicians behind the walls of Renaissance palaces.

Henry Purcell, also known as Orpheus Britannicus for his ability to enchant the public with his music, is the most celebrated English composer of the Baroque period. He was largely appreciated for his dramatic works, but he also wrote a significant number of instrumental compositions such as A Choice Collection of Lessons for The Harpsichord or Spinnet. The title of the collection indicates the intended instruments: "for the Harpsichord or Spinnet". At that time in England, spinnet was a widely used instrument. Due to it's modest size, it became a privileged instrument for the domestic learning, especially in wealthy families. This practice can be traced in multiple artistic representations, where the typical performer was typically young and female. Their composed appearance is very far from the flamboyant virtuosity or exuberance. The Lessons have the same courteous attitude, but they are rich in emotional nuances. Gentleness emerges through an elegant musical style that is never overly sentimental.. Music sometimes can be vigorous, but it's never bold. Two centuries passed before a new composer could rival Purcell's reputation: when Benjamin Britten chose some of Purcell's works and published them in a modern arrangement, he declared that he wanted to maintain that mix of clarity, brightness, tenderness and originality that shines through all his music.

Our debut album tells of creative connections spanning centuries and of the curiosity and passion that keep music relevant and alive today. We move playfully between rarely heard and well-known masterworks of the Baroque, presenting both ensemble and solo works to create a richly textured soundscape. Many of the composers featured on this album were linked through personal or artistic exchange. Telemann, Handel, Corelli, and the mysterious Mrs. Philarmonica were not only connected stylistically, but also crossed paths in the musical centers of Europe such as London, Hamburg, and Rome.

With this "colourful" selection of pieces, we intend to give an impression of the diverse repertoire collected in the Turin Tablature. The motets and liturgical works were most likely intended for performance in church, whereas dances and madrigals were intended more for secular settings: at festivals, celebrations, and for domestic music-making. Toccatas and ricercars could be played in both ecclesiastical and secular settings. [In light of the wide variety of purposes of this repetoire, we utilized a wide variety of instruments.] Thus, in addition to the Marx-Gunzer organ, three other stringed keyboard instruments were used: a clavicytherium in southern German design from the 17th century, a virginal after Michael Praetorius (1619), and a harpsichord of a seventeenthcentury Italian design.

The reconstruction of the compositional chronology of Georg Friedrich Handel's repertoire for flute is extremely complex. There are various reasons for this, stemming from two essential factors: on the one hand, the typical tendency for much of Handel's music to transmigrate from one instrument to another and the consequent impossibility, at times, of determining precisely which version of a particular piece is the original; on the other hand, the proliferation, at a time when no copyright regulations existed, of diverse printed editions. Many of these, unauthorised, generated different versions, errors or misinterpretations, which were possibly also passed on over time. For this CD recording, which features a substantial part of the complete corpus of the sonatas for recorder and transverse flute, we compared the two earliest printed versions containing sonatas for solo instrument by Handel. Both were published by the London publisher Walsh, although for a long time the first of the two editions was attributed to the Amsterdam publisher Roger, but then, thanks to the studies of Terence Best and David Lasocki, it turned out to be a 'pirate' publication by the same publisher Walsh (who probably had not yet obtained Handel's permission to publish).

During the reign of Le Roi Soleil Louis XIV, music played the fundamental role of defining and consolidating the centrality of power, both in the sphere of sacred music with the grand motets and in the sphere of opera with the comedies-ballets, tragedies-lyricas and operas-ballets by Lully, Charpentier, Delalande and Campra: music had to represent the grandeur and divine nature of the sovereign, the power and splendor of the French crown. This is the cultural and musical context of Francois D'Agincour. Born in Rouen in 1684, he studied in his home town until the age of 17 with Notre-Dame organist Jacques Boyvin. He continued his training probably with Lebegue in Paris, where he was employed as organist at Sainte Madeleine-en-la-Cite for five years. Appreciated and very prominent, in 1714 he became one of the four organists of the Chapelle royal at Versailles, replacing Louis Marchand. He then also took up the post at Saint Jean in Rouen in 1726 and spent the last thirty years of his life between Versailles and Rouen. The only printed collection published by him in 1733 contains 4 ordres for harpsichord, inspired by the descriptive nature of the titles and compositional style by those of Francois Couperin. Next to the dance forms of the suite emerge the pieces de caractere, most of which are rondeaux. The descriptive titles refer to single portraits (e.g., L'Empressee, La Pressante Angelique), double portraits, natural scenes, genre scenes, and places. Played on two different harpsichords, copies of a Hemsch and Dulcken instrument, by Marco Borghetto, who won First Prize at the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition 2023.

Jean-Baptiste Gravier, known as l'abbé Gravier, was a French Catholic priest, composer and organist. Born on 21 April 1723 in Lombez, he died on 22 November 1799 in Saintes. He lived and worked throughout his life in the Occitan region. From the few biographical notes available, we know that Gravier perfected his studies in Toulouse with the organist Jean-Charles Desforats (1690-1762) and was employed in various locations from 1741 to 1790 as organist in Auch, Bordeaux and Saintes. The brief interlude he spent in Paris in 1759 must have been important for his artistic career. The Six Sonates pour le Clavecin (1759) by Abbé Jean-Baptiste Gravier are among his most remarkable works and demonstrate his talent for the harpsichord. The sonatas are composed of several movements, typically three or four, alternating between fast and slow tempos. They show an openness to Italian music, with clear melodic lines and rich harmonies. Gravier was able to incorporate elements of virtuosity and personal expression into his compositions, making them both technically demanding and emotionally captivating. This is another enterprising recording by Fernando de Luca, who has done a great deal to revive forgotten names from 18th-century music with complete surveys of their music on Brilliant Classics, among them Dufour, Foucquet, Jollage and Siret. '[De Luca] thinks outside of the box, and he clearly is a man with discerning tastes. These extend to his playing, which is clear-headed and disciplined, but never rigid. "Charm" is such an overused word, but I cannot think of a better one to describe this music and these performances.' (Fanfare on the Jollage album, January 2024). Fernando de Luca plays a French harpsichord after Blanchet (1754).

Christoph Schaffrath (1709-1763) was a German composer, harpsichordist, and organist active during the transition from the late Baroque to the early Classical period. Born in Hohnstein near Dresden, he studied at the University of Leipzig and later competed for the position of organist at the Sophienkirche in Dresden, though he lost to Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Despite this setback, Schaffrath went on to build a solid career in Berlin, serving first as harpsichordist to Crown Prince Frederick (later Frederick the Great) and later as court musician to Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia. His role in these circles placed him in the heart of the north German Empfindsamer Stil, a style characterized by expressive melodies, sudden contrasts, and sensitivity to affect. Among Schaffrath's surviving works, the 12 Soli per il Cembalo hold a special place. This collection, composed for solo harpsichord, shows his ability to merge Baroque contrapuntal traditions with the emerging galant idiom. Each of the twelve pieces demonstrates clarity of texture, graceful melodic invention, and a keen sense of ornamentation appropriate for the keyboard. Unlike the dense polyphony of J.S. Bach, Schaffrath's Soli often feature a singing upper line supported by transparent accompaniment, making them more accessible to performers and audiences of his time. The sonatas show Schaffrath's sensitivity to the harpsichord's timbre and expressive limits, favoring elegance over virtuosic display. Today, the 12 Soli per il Cembalo offer valuable insight into mid-18th-century keyboard practice and exemplify the stylistic currents that paved the way for Haydn, C.P.E. Bach, and Mozart. Played by Marius Bartoccini, a keyboard player who performed as a soloist with Sigiswald Kuijken and Federico Maria Sardelli. On this recording he plays an harpsichord and clavichord. He recorded to great critical acclaim for Brilliant Classics works by Dussek, Myslivecek and Kozeluch.

Christlieb Siegmund Binder (1723-1789) was a German composer, organist, and harpsichordist active in Dresden during the mid-18th century. He belonged to the musical circle surrounding the Saxon court, which at the time was a major cultural hub, closely tied to both German and Italian traditions. Though not as widely remembered as his contemporaries Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or Johann Adolf Hasse, Binder's works reflect the stylistic shift from the late Baroque to the empfindsamer Stil and early Classicism. Among his surviving works, the Six Harpsichord Sonatas stand out as his most notable contribution to the keyboard repertoire. These pieces display a balance between contrapuntal craftsmanship and a more galant, expressive style. Unlike the ornate fugues and suites of the earlier Baroque, Binder's sonatas emphasize clear melodic lines, graceful ornamentation, and a lighter texture, qualities that aligned with the taste of Dresden's aristocratic audiences. Each sonata reveals Binder's sensitivity to expressive nuance. The slow movements often highlight a singing quality, echoing the influence of opera, while the faster movements showcase rhythmic vitality and elegant figurations well suited to the harpsichord's brilliance. Though less technically demanding than some of Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas, they nevertheless require finesse and attention to articulation, as the musical interest lies in subtle contrasts of mood and character. Binder's sonatas also provide a window into the transitional aesthetic of the 1740s and 1750s. They combine traces of learned counterpoint-expected from a Dresden organist trained in the Lutheran tradition-with the charm and immediacy of the galant style. In this sense, his music bridges the world of J.S. Bach with the more modern sensibilities of Haydn and Mozart. Played on a Mascheroni harpsichord by P. Taskin, 1769, by Paolo Gazzola. Born in Piacenza in 1992 he obtained a Master of arts in music performance in Organ at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana with Stefano Molardi.

Michel Corrette (1707-1795) was born in a musical family, his father was organist, his grandfather dancing master. He was a famous composer, teacher and organist, his long lifetime seeing the cultural change from the Baroque to the Classical era. The album contains suites of dances and character pieces in the French manner, following the model established by Francois Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Typical movements include allemandes, courantes, sarabandes, and gigues, alongside more descriptive works with evocative titles. These pieces reflect the French fondness for portraying moods, personalities, or even humorous caricatures through music. At the same time, Corrette demonstrates a flair for lively rhythms and bright textures that hint at the Italianate energy fashionable in Paris during the 1730s. Unlike Couperin, who sought refinement and subtle elegance, Corrette often favored a more direct and accessible style. His Premier livre was intended not only for professional musicians but also for skilled amateurs, aligning with his lifelong mission to make music approachable. Historically, the collection occupies an interesting position: it came at a moment when the harpsichord was at the height of it's prestige in France but just before the emerging galant style began to dominate keyboard writing. As such, Corrette's first book of harpsichord pieces serves as both a continuation of the French clavecin tradition and an early sign of stylistic transition. Today, it stands as a testament to Corrette's versatility and his role in bridging established Baroque forms with the new musical aesthetics of the mid-18th century. Agustin Alvarez, trained in the Caracas Conservatory and the Royal Superior Music Conservatory of Madrid, studied harpsichord and basso continuo with Tony Millan. He has received lessons from great maestros such as Christophe Rousset, Elisabeth Joye, Jacques Ogg, Guido Morini, Luc Beausejour, Beatrice Martin, Enrico Baiano and Nicolau de Figueiredo. He has recorded for Brilliant Classics 11 suites for solo harpsichord by Nicolas Lebegue wich received excellent reviews: "impeccable interpretation, exquisite harpsichordist" Ritmo magazine, "of the highest interpretations, very elegant, technically impeccable, with great knowledge of style" Scherzo magazine.