The 6 sonatas for violin and harpsichord obbligato rank amongst the most beautiful chamber music that Bach wrote. They are overshadowed by the solo sonatas. This despite the fact that they are masterpieces in their own right, only without the aura of a magnum opus. The slow movements display a range of moods, from desolate and lonely to radiantly festive. Meanwhile, the fast movements are a mixture of high-spirited instrumental music and contrapuntal mastery. There are canons, fugues, chorale preludes and much more: practically a compendium of options. Daniel Gaede and Raphael Alpermann guide us through this treasure trove of curiosities with virtuosity and sensitivity. Once again: 2 albums for the price of one.

This release views “French style” from a strictly historic point of view, exploring the musical language of absolutism which reigned in Paris from the time of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and part of the time of Louis XV (1715-1774). Marin Marais was one of the most famous composers of “French-style,” excelling in chamber music. Performing on period instruments are Alberto Rasi on viola da gamba, Patrizia Marisaldi on harpsichord, and Beatrice Pornon on theorbo.

The recording of the two harpsichord sonatas by Bernardo Pasquini, master of the Italian style of the organ and harpsichord in the period between the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, is a particularly interesting cameo in the panorama of the music dedicated to the genre of the partimento, advanced practice of the basso continuo that in Italy formed the basis of compositional and keyboard teaching in the 18th century Neapolitan school. In fact the sonatas consist of only the bass lines on which the two performers must create the entire composition thanks to the technical and expressive expertise obtained from a consummate knowledge and experience of the performance practice of the time. Marina Scaioli and Francesco Tasini face this instrumental 'challenge' on two Italian historical harpsichords copies: a 1725 Giovanni Ferrini and a 1778 Roberto and Federigo Cresci.

Few musicians were as versatile as the humble Brother Martini, who insisted on being called that way in spite of all the honors rendered to him in Bologna and everywhere. He is celebrated in our time as an extraordinary keeper of books, scores and paintings; in his time, he was quite famous also as an erudite musician, an expert writer of treatises, a pioneering historian, and an authentic “maestro” of music. And as a composer, obviously; but of what? Of everything that pertained to a Kapellmeister and an organist: masses, motets, psalms, hymns, organ sonatas, and so on; and also harpsichord sonatas, concertos, cantatas, duets and profane arias. The Euridice Choir conducted by Pier Paolo Scattolin and the soloists Giacomo Contro, Angela Troilo, and Vincenzo Di Donato are the protagonists of the reconstruction (seen the several gaps found on the original score) of the intermezzo ”Azione Teatrale” of 1726, and of the realization of the “Calls of the street vendors at the Bologna market,” including 13 amongst the countless vocal canons composed by Padre Martini that, once for all is offering to us a lively cross-section of eighteenth-century Bologna in its most daily and popular aspects.

This is volume 9 in Centaur's traversal of the Complete keyboard works of Couperin, performed on harpsichord by Mark Kroll. Mark Kroll has performed Couperin's works throughout his long performing life. He has performed on four continents as a harpsichordist and fortepianist, in both solo recital and as a collaborative chamber musician. Highlights include an appearance as the official guest of the city of Barcelona; featured soloist in Germany’s Regensburg Early Music Festival, France’s Festival Ambronay and the Bordeaux Hummel Festival; performances and lectures in Beijing and Shanghai; two concerts for the Czech Republic’s Prague Spring Festival; and recitals at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome’s Conservatorio Santa Caecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland’s Dni Bachowski, and Slovenija’s Radovljica Festival. Mark Kroll has been one of the few harpsichordists to devote a significant part of his career to the contemporary literature for the instrument. He has commissioned and premiered a large number of works, and released several recordings of this repertoire.

The harpsichord sounds light and airy when Tatjana Vorobjova plays the " Sechs Musicalischen Partien " by Johann Krieger. Apart from the stupendous playing technique of the virtuoso with Latvian roots, this is of course due to Krieger's compositional style, which conjures up filigree character pieces of deep content from the standardized dance movements of the suites. In addition to the printed collection of the six suites, the finely balanced Super Audio album also contains handwritten individual pieces that round off the high baroque listening pleasure in a refreshing way.

In the first half of the eighteenth century Milan was one of music’s world capitals, and was the center of Italian instrumental music. It can be considered the starting point of a genre that would redefine music all over the world- the sonata. Milanese musicians were long forgotten but nowadays, thanks to musicological investigation and studies, they have been revalued. This new VERMEER release presents a series of Sonatas for flute and continuo all from Milanese composers; beginning from Giuseppe Sammartini who was also an appreciate oboe performer, Carlo Zuccari violinist from Casalmaggiore and who worked for long time in Milan, and Giovanni Andrea Fioroni, Milanese cathedral choirmaster from 1747 to his death. All of them gave a significant contribution to Milanese instrumental music. The four Sammartini Sonatas are very relevant and were likely composed before Sammartini left for London in 1728. They are performed by Mario Carbotta. This VERMEER is a combination of beauty and musical value.

Luca Guglielmi: “Bach himself did not see the autograph manuscript as a 'definitive' version. He kept it as an 'open manuscript' on the rack of his harpsichord up to his death, using it as a 'textbook' for the lessons he gave to his students, never ceasing to insert a series of corrections, reworkings, improvements, small variants and even performance instructions. Bach's hands-on approach to his work in progress proves just how modern he actually was and remains. Through a truly 'holistic vision' we can embrace artistic parameters inherited from our 18th-century forebears: a profound, venerable legacy that remains unknown to the ones who approach the musical art on 'scientific' methods based on calculation and measurement. For this recording we have had the fortune to use an original Christian Zell 1737 harpsichord, a favorite of Gustav Leonhardt to whose memory this volume 1 is dedicated.”

Gilbert Rowland is one of Europe’s most senior and accomplished exponents of the harpsichord. Following his critically acclaimed 6-album series of the Harpsichord Suites of Handel for Divine Art, he moved to the Athene imprint which now specializes in baroque music and ‘period’ instruments for his well-received album of Suites by Johann Mattheson and his first volume of Froberger’s Suites. This 2-album set is the second volume in a projected complete survey of the Harpsichord Suites by Johann Jakob Froberger, whose organ and harpsichord music is individual in nature and ground breaking – he was one of the first composers to settle the ‘dance-movement’ style of Suite taken up by Couperin, Bach, and Handel among many others. There are 12 Suites in this collection. Gilbert Rowland plays a 2 manual French style harpsichord made by Andrew Wooderson after an instrument by Goemans (Paris, 1750)