This double SACD (stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound) brings together Louis Vierne's complete works for solo voice and organ for the first time, with AEOLUS securing the services of Wurzburg soprano Franziska Bobe and Wurzburg Cathedral organist Stefan Schmidt. In addition, Stefan Schmidt plays rarely heard pieces from the composer's early creative period as well as little-known late works. Another highlight is the complete 6th Organ Symphony from 1930. The large French symphonic instrument at St. Peter's in Dusseldorf, built by the Karl Gockel workshop, was inaugurated 25 years ago and attracted a great deal of attention from experts at the time. In combination with the cathedral acoustics of the large neo-Gothic sanctuary, it is ideally suited to Vierne's music.

On her album Naiades, the young Korean concert organist Hyelin Lee presents a representative cross-section of French organ music from the late Romantic period. Interestingly, she enriches her program with organ arrangements of piano works by Gabriel Faure, as the composer actually left behind not a single work for organ, even though he served as organist at the Madeleine in Paris for nine years. For lovers of French organ music, this album is particularly appealing because it features the Cavaille-Coll organ of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, an important instrument by the renowned French organ builder, of which there has been no official recording to date.

Four centuries after his birth, Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667) is still able to reach listeners with his moving compositions. Powerhouse composers like Bach and Mozart studied Froberger’s works, and his influence in the world of Western music cannot be overlooked. This release is the eighth installment in the Froberger series, and includes the toccatas performed on harpsichord, as well as two Elevation toccatas and an organ toccata. Motets are also performed in their world premiere recordings.

The Swiss composer Guy Bovet has created a chamber version of Camille Saint-Saëns' popular 'Organ Symphony', which increases the significance of the organ part to a true 'Symphony concertante' for organ and orchestra. The result is convincing and the Capriccio Baroque Orchestra presents the work for the first time on historical instruments from the time it was composed. Of writing this piece, Saint-Saëns wrote: “I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.” It seems he wrote the work as a sort of history of his own career- it features virtuosic piano passages, Romantic orchestral writing, and, of course, the sound of the cathedral-sized pipe organ.

After having already released the solo harpsichord concertos, which received several awards, Aapo Häkkinen and the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra go on with the concertos for two harpsichords, together with renowned French harpsichord player Pierre Hantaï. The sonata for two harpsichords by the oldest Bach son Wilhelm Friedemann is a welcome addition. The French harpsichordist, Pierre Hantaï, became passionately attached to the music of Bach around the age of ten. Thanks to the influence of Gustav Leonhardt, he began to study the harpsichord, alone at first, then guided by the American teacher Arthur Haas. He gave his first concerts at an early age, alone or with his brothers Marc and Jérôme. He then spent two years studying in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt, who subsequently invited him to perform under his direction. In 1983 Hantaï scored his first major triumph through taking first prize at the International Bach-Handel Competition of Bruges in Belgium; since then, Hantaï has collected an impressive number of honors and awards.

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This is the third volume of the Froberger Edition, and completes the set. Containing the complete Libro Quarto and the suites XV and XVII, this album showcases these mature works. For this recording, harpsichordist Bob van Asperen performs on a historic French harpsichord of an unknown maker, dating around 1700. The works were recorded in the incredible acoustics of the “sala nobile” of the Villa Medici, Rome. This release includes a 48 page booklet in which Bob van Asperen comments on works recently ascribed to Froberger.

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Bob van Asperen and AEOLUS have now realized the third volume of the Louis Couperin Edition. The valuable harpsichord from the Villa Medici in Rome has been recorded here for the first time in high resolution and with Surround-Sound technology. The Super Audio CD contains some of the wonderful harpsichord suites composed by Louis Couperin (an uncle of François Couperin), who lived in Paris in the 17th century. The album's title, 'Chaconne de Mr Couperin', refers to the genre of the chaconne, which is characteristic - together with the related genre of the passacaille - of Couperin's work. The thick booklet even provides the score of a recently discovered piece by Couperin. The Couperin Edition will be made up of four volumes of harpsichord alone, and additionally offer the composer's other preserved and seldom heard works.

The VI Suittes voor’ t Clavier, Opera Prima by the 17-year-old Dutch composer Reijnold Popma van Oevering were the first to carry forward the innovative harpsichord suite concept of the French composer Francois Dieupart, whose “English” Suites begin with a substantial prelude or overture, a model that was to become widely imitated a few years later in northern Europe. Popma van Oevering’s Opera Prima, with a certain Italian and north German flavour while at the same time bearing witness to an individual style, was to become widely disseminated in Europe, as appears from the mark it left on composers including Bach, Handel and even Mozart. His six harpsichord suites are presented here for the first time as a complete recording, made partly on the monumental Christiaan Muller organ in Leeuwarden, built in 1727 upon the initiative of the composer.

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The young Belgian organist Stephane Mottoul has already received several awards not only as an outstanding performer but also as a remarkable organ improviser. On AEOLUS he presents the complete organ works of Maurice Durufle (1902-1986). He plays on the excellent Thomas organ of St. Laurentius Church in Diekirch (Luxembourg), built in 2016. Stephane Mottoul was born in 1990 in Belgium and began his higher organ studies in Namur, at the Higher Institute of Music and Pedagogy, in the class of Benoît Mernier. Eager to enrich his musical background, he went to Paris to discover the art of improvisation with Pierre Pincemaille, at the Conservatoire de Saint-Maur les Fossés and at the Conservatoire de Reims with Pierre Méa. He continued his training in Germany, and was also accepted to the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris both in organ and improvisation as well as advanced composition.

Johann Gottfried Müthel may be counted among the most important and individual keyboard composers of northern Germany. Even though we know relatively little about his life and his oeuvre, Müthel‘s works are considered to be the most important representatives of his epoch. His expressive tonal language and his individual way of composing can be experienced through his organ works, which are interpreted by Léon Berben in a stupendous manner. Leon Berben was the harpsichordist of Musica Antiqua Koln from 2000 until the ensemble dissolved in 2006. He has given concerts all over the world, and has recorded several albums both with his former ensemble and as a solo artist.

A "seventeenth-century Art of Fugue" -- The seventh volume of the Froberger Edition on Aeolus is perhaps the craziest: a roller-coaster ride through the world of the fugue, performed with virtuosity and the spirit of adventure. Bob van Asperen plays himself here into an absolute frenzy! Froberger's Capriccios show a composer who not only perfectly mastered his métier, but drove his art forward to new heights. Not without reason, the accompanying text (written by the performer) points out many connections to the works of J. S. Bach. With Bob van Asperen, the Edition features an exceptional interpreter who performs these works just as passionately as knowledgeably. Eighteen multi-part Capriccios are to be heard, also including a recently discovered work. As in all the other volumes of the Edition, an important historical instrument is employed: here it is the large Arp Schnitger organ of the Ludgerikirche in Norden (Eastern Friesland, Germany), which with its numerous stops allows the wealth of polyphony to resound.

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Almost nothing is known about François Dufaut (ca.1604 - ca.1672): we neither know when and where he was born nor do we know the time and place of his demise. Over the centuries, his reputation as a lutenist, who has also composed and developed an independent style, has been maintained. André Henrich sets out to search for this mysterious figure in music history. André Henrich was born in Oberwesel/Germany. In 2000 he graduated from the Musikhochschule in Cologne, where he had studied with Konrad Junghänel. He now performs internationally as a soloist and continuo player on the lute, the theorbo and the baroque guitar. He currently teaches lute and theorbo at the conservatory of Saint-Maur-des-Fosses.

Almost every music lover has probably heard Erich Höbarth play at least once: active as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s concertmaster, as first violinist of the Quatuor Mosaïques, and in many other positions of musical life, heard in numerous recordings and television broadcasts, he is an almost omnipresent figure. Höbarth unites historical performance practice with the self-assured poise of an individual artistic personality. The Viennese violinist has found here a congenial partner in the young Aapo Häkkinen from Helsinki, who, exactly like Höbarth, can already boast extensive experience as an ensemble director.

Violin and Harpsichord – these are namely the instruments that Bach himself played as ensemble director and as soloist, and that he brings together in the present sonatas as if at a chamber music summit meeting. Already in the eighteenth century, the six-sonata cycle BWV 1014–1019 numbered among his best works. Höbarth and Häkkinen captivate with wonderful ensemble playing. Aapo Häkkinen plays a – today rarely found – 16’ harpsichord, that is to say, with an additional, lower sounding register. It has been reported that Bach likewise had a 16’ instrument at his disposal in Köthen, where he composed the sonatas. - Aeolus Music

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