This new release from Peter Holtslag is truly a unique listening experience. In these recordings he performs on one of the few remaining transverse flutes from the eighteenth century- a beautiful instrument crafted by Johann August Crone. Five sonatas are included here, each of which display Holtslag’s beautiful technique and historically informed performance practices. “Peter Holtslag is an accompanied player with acute sensibilities where textures, articulation, and phrasing are concerned.” (Gramophone, London) “Holtslag is gifted with more imagination than some.” (Gramophone)

The fact that the British Reger contemporary Frederick William Holloway (1873-1954) has today unjustly largely fallen into oblivion may not least be due to the abrupt end of his activity at London's 'Crystal Palace', where he worked as a resident organist: on November 30, 1936, Holloway's musical sphere of activity was completely destroyed by a fire, the organ and probably also part of his music was destroyed by the flames. The surviving works bear witness to an unmistakable affinity with the French organ aesthetics of the late 19th century. On this recording Markus Eichenlaub plays an original English, three-manual Nelson organ from 1904. Since 2010 Markus Eichenlaub has been responsible for the entire liturgical and concert organ music in the world's largest Romanesque cathedral, the cathedral of Speyer. In addition, he coordinates the cathedral's musical activities on the bishopric level as the diocesan church music director.

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 Beno�t 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 Foss�s and at the Conservatoire de Reims with Pierre M�a. 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.

After Joseph Callaerts (titular organist from 1891 to 1901), Gustaaf Brees (from 1901 to 1926), Alex Paepen (from 1926 to 1962) and Stanislas Deriemaeker (from 1962 to 2002), Peter Van de Velde is the fifth titular organist of the romantic Schyven organ of Antwerp Cathedral. Peter Van de Velde, born in 1972, began his organ studies as an autodidact at the age of nine. At twelve he became organist of the village church of Doel in East Flanders. He received his first music lessons at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts. There he was awarded a first prize for aural training and the highest distinction in the organ category. Peter Van de Velde continued his studies at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, where he won several first prizes and a soloist diploma in 1996. He was the last student of Stanislas Deriemaeker. During his studies, and also afterwards, he participated in numerous master classes for organ and improvisation. On this recording he presents several transcriptions for organ by the composer C�sar Franck.

For the first time the large clavicytherium of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg) – a kind of vertical harpsichord built by an anonymous German master during the late sixteenth century – is recorded here on album. The present instrument is undoubtedly a pinnacle of the art of instrument making, with unusual timbres and an astonishingly complex action. Bernhard Klapprott, a former pupil of Bob van Asperen and today Professor of Harpsichord in Weimar, has selected appropriate music for this rare instrument: to be heard are delicate polyphonic works as well as full-voiced adaptations of popular songs of the time by South-German composers such as Hassler, Erbach, Paix, and Staden. The unique instrument and the special repertoire are described in detail in the extensive booklet. In addition, Bernhard Klapprott explains the special background of the historical ornamentation employed.

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.

On the extremely rarely heard, sonorous Christian Zell harpsichord from 1741, Bob van Asperen makes it clear that Bach's art of the fugue is to be met with the same joy of playing the harpsichord as other Bach keyboard works. For the duets, Asperen's former pupil Bernhard Klapprott, today also a sought-after keyboard virtuoso, joins in. The Dutch harpsichordist, organist, conductor, clavichordist and early music-specialist, Bob van Asperen, completed a conventional university course of study in music before embarking on lessons with harpsichord master Gustav Leonhardt starting in 1967. He made his debut in Haarlem in 1968. Also in 1968 he joined the group Quadro Hotteterre, of which he was a member until 1984. He completed his studies in 1972 “with distinction” after finishing a course in organ at the Amsterdam Conservatory given by Albert de Klerk. Currently he teaches at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.

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.

Classical Music

The musical side of the great Dutch baroque painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) is the inspiration for this new release: this music could have been heard by Rembrandt in his environment, some of it even with great certainty. In the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, where many of Rembrandt's most important pictures can be found, the recording took place on the unique Petrus Joanne's couchet harpsichord, which also belongs to the collection of the Rijksmuseum. The Amsterdam-born Bob van Asperen is of course an ideal artist to realize this extraordinary project. In his booklet text, the world-famous harpsichordist explains many previously little-known references between Rembrandt and the music of his time. Bob van Asperen is one of the most famous early music specialists for harpsichord, clavichord, and organ, and is also known as a conductor and musicologist. Since 1999, Bob van Asperen and AEOLUS have developed an intensive collaboration, the results of which include their critically acclaimed recordings of the works of J.J. Froberger and J.S. Bach.

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.

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) undoubtedly led the Organ Symphony to it's stylistic climax. In the tradition of this original French genre he stands in line with his teachers and pioneers C�sar Franck and Charles-Marie Widor. The last two relevant works were written in 1924 and 1930. AEOLUS has already published Symphonies No. 1-4 with Daniel Roth on the famous Aristide Cavaill�-Coll organ (1862) of Saint-Sulpice in Paris in recent years. For the last episode he kindly left 'his' instrument to his younger colleague Stephen Tharp from New York. Stephen Tharp, hailed as "the organist for the connoisseur" (organ - Journal f�r die Orgel, Germany), "the thinking person's performer" (Het Orgel), "every bit the equal of any organist" (The American Organist" magazine) and "the consummate creative artist" (Michael Barone, Pipedreams), is recognized as one of the great concert organists of our age.

Classical Music

After his SACD with works by Joan Cabanilles, which was awarded the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, Léon Berben dedicates the new AEOLUS production to one of the most important representatives of Altiber organ music: Antonio de Cabezón. The Ostönnen Gothic organ used for the recording is considered to be the oldest in all of Germany. Dendrochronological investigations revealed that the wood from which some of the instrument parts were made must have been felled around 1415. Despite some alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries, the organ was largely preserved in its original condition. The Dutch harpsichordist and organist, Léon Berben, studied harpsichord and organ in Den Haag (Koninklijk Conservatorium) and Amsterdam (Sweelinck Conservatorium) with Rienk Jiskoot, Bob van Asperen, Ton Koopman and Gustav Leonhardt, and finished his studies with solo-diploma for both instruments. Besides playing the harpsichord and organ, Léon Berben engages in debates on historical performance practice by writing articles and also signs as a co-author for MGG (Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart). He has now been living since several years in Cologne, Germany.

Classical Music