Unfortunately, until recently, the music of Vincent Lubeck was simply regarded as northern German music from the 17th century in the pre-Bach era. This recording is the first edition to include all existing organ and harpsichord compositions by Lubeck as well as a series of previously unknown manuscript pieces. Despite Lubeck’s fame during his long lifetime, few of his organ works are well known, yet his pieces for organ are the most important in his oeuvre. Influenced by Buxtehude and Reincken, Lubeck composed works that were both technically and artistically elaborate with frequent two-pedal virtuosic passages, five voices and other compositional elements rarely used by most of his contemporaries. Lubeck’s Clavier Uebung, written in 1728, consists of a single suite for harpsichord, with the traditional dances (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue) preceded by a prelude and fugue and followed by a chaconne. The S.M.G. manuscript from 1691 includes 45 short pieces for keyboard, many anonymous although five are attributed to Lubeck’s father, and it also contains the only known compositions by Lubeck’s son. These pedagogical pieces work well on a small historic harpsichord or clavichord, or on a small or regal stop organ. In fact, the dynamic markings in certain pieces indicate clavichord, considered to be the preferred instrument on which to learn keyboard technique. Their charm and melodic inventiveness make them a joy to play.

The conventual franciscan Orazio Colombano (c.1554–after 1595) hailed from Verona and came to the ancient city of Vercelli, in Piedmont, east of Turin, in 1579 to take up his first professional appointment as Moderator for Music at the Cathedral, a thriving cappella musicale under the House of Savoy, established in 1495 with a choir of six children, adult singers including a number of Flemish and French musicians, and organists, cornetto, sackbut, theorbo and string players. Colombano spent about two years there, during which he composed the Psalms for Six Voices (Harmonia super vespertinos omnium solemnitatum psalmos sex vocibus decantanda), his first work, which sets to music the Psalms of the Vespers liturgy for all obligatory feast days, as established at the Council of Trent, preceded by the introductory ‘Deus in adjutorium’ and followed by the Magnificat. The style is largely antiphonal, with alternating choirs in dialogue, and this collection presents as a kind of ‘compendium’ of the features of polyphonic psalms of the time: from homorhythm with rather strict syllabic declamation, to close imitative polyphony akin to Flemish models. This variety of approach gives insight into the structure of psalmodic recitation and its polyphonic treatment in the late 16th century. This world-premiere recording is based on the score edited by Denis Silano for the series ‘Bibliotheca Musicalis Ecclesiae Vercellensis’ published by Vox Antiqua. Monsignor Silano leads the Cappella Musicale of Vercelli Cathedral, whose elite ensemble aims to revive the Vercelli Cathedral’s 16th- and 17th-century heritage of manuscripts and printed music. These soloists, specialised in early music, perform in the Vercelli Cathedral’s liturgical services.

One tends to think of Clementi as an important figure in the history of early piano manufacture, as a great keyboard virtuoso rivalling Mozart, and as a composer of pleasant little pieces for children to play. These sets of CDs of Clementi’s keyboard music make us think again. Much of his music does seem formulaic, if I dare say so, in a similar way to that of Vivaldi. These performances made me realise that there is much more to Clementi than that.

In Volume 5 Mastroprimiano uses a Clementi fortepiano of 1828. The Sonata in G minor Op. 34 No.2 is a very fine work, reminding us of how Mozart used that key so effectively. The piece begins with a Largo e sostenuto which sets a tragic tone, and this is followed by an Allegro con fuoco which uses and develops the same motif, with much dissonance, chromaticism and counterpoint. In this movement maybe Howard Shelley’s modern instrument scores over Mastroprimiano’s version because of its ability to sustain the opening slow music. Howard Shelley plays this movement with appropriate bravura and subtle rubato. However Mastroprimiano also gives an excellent performance though today I have a preference for Shelley. The second movement, marked Un poco adagio is beautifully played by Mastroprimiano, but once again Shelley can produce a much more sustained tone on his modern piano albeit in a more romantic style. The final Molto allegro is played with appropriate virtuosity by both players. So if you still think of Clementi as a rather minor composer, have a listen to this. Definitely a piece worth getting to know, I would say!

The six sonatinas that comprise Op. 36 are pedagogical pieces, still used to great effect by teachers and their students today. They are tuneful, full of character and rhythmic vitality, and they serve their purpose admirably. In the first movement of Op. 36 No.1 Mastroprimiano’s instrument has an almost explosive quality in the staccato playing. He is not quite as fast as Howard Shelley on the modern piano, who discovers wit and humour in this movement. I like Shelley’s seemingly spontaneous ornamentation in the repeats in the second movement. In Op. 36 No.4, Shelley brings out the sadness and pathos in the Andante con espressione second movement in a quite slow performance. Mastroprimiano starts slowly gradually moving forward, but the mood is more of quiet contemplation. In the fast movements, his Clementi fortepiano is well able to cope with the clear articulation necessary, particularly at such high speeds. However we do hear a few characteristic twangs now and then which either add to the charm or irritate you depending on your reaction to the sound of these early keyboards.

Mastroprimiano plays the first movement of Op. 37 No.1 with beautiful tone and touch making subtle use of the new damper mechanism available on Clementi’s instruments. Shelley plays this movement, and many others, considerably faster than Mastroprimiano, and he displays stunning passagework with great variety in his articulation. However Mastroprimiano and his instrument give us a much clearer insight as to how these works may have sounded in Clementi’s day. They make Shelley’s performances seem very inauthentic and a little artificial, but maybe this is only an impression I get because I heard the Mastroprimiano first! In the finale of Op. 37 No.3, Mastroprimiano’s fractionally slower tempo allows more breathing space and greater clarity. His period instrument makes the special blurry effect of the ‘open pedal’ very telling. The tonic pedal below the main rondo theme sounds like bees buzzing around in a bag. The modern piano version seems a bit tame after that.

In many ways Clementi’s sonatas are more difficult to play than Mozart’s. Although Mozart had no time for Clementi, Beethoven greatly admired him and there is no doubt that Clementi had a great influence on the early Romantic composers. Clementi was interested in developing a real legato style of playing on his newly built keyboard instruments. Much of Clementi’s music is inspired, often beautiful, sometimes dramatic and frequently virtuosic. If I had to choose between the two versions I would go for the Mastroprimiano whose performances really show us how these pieces might have sounded in Clementi’s day, with great variety and clarity of texture and telling articulation.

-- Geoffrey Molyneux, MusicWeb International

Once a pianist accompanying the likes of Bronislaw Huberman, Pablo de Sarasate and the Rose Quartet, Carl Fruhling is now little known. He wrote several orchestral and chamber works, songs and salon pieces, but his best and most-recorded work is this Clarinet Trio, published in 1925 but cast in an idiom at least a generation before its composition. Born in 1868, and dying in reduced circumstances in 1937 after the Crash had left him in need, he was and remained a musical Romantic, whose language is perfectly fitted to this most Brahmsian of genres. From that earlier generation, Zemlinsky’s 1896 Trio surges with D minor expression and passion. He wrote it as a 25-year-old for a Viennese chamber-music competition. While the syntax and mood certainly echo Brahms, the chromatic harmony is the composer’s own: so too the intense songfulness which surges through the long opening movement and then a central, richly textured Andante. Even the brief finale is restless and filled with agitated, virtuoso writing for the piano in particular, while the clarinet sings a troubled descant line. Clarinet music by Zemlinsky’s contemporaries, Busoni and Hindemith, has been the subject of previous Brilliant Classics albums by the clarinettist Davide Bandieri. According to MusicWeb International, reviewing the Hindemith collection, he has ‘an attractive woody tone and fine phrasing and articulation.’ He is joined here by Joel and Marja-Liisa Marosi, husband and wife, who teach and perform in Switzerland.

An enjoyable and valuable introduction to the choral repertoire of this era.

This four-disc set celebrates Flemish vocal polyphony of the renaissance era. Recorded at various times in the 1970s and 1980s by the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, this is a fascinating collection in a well presented box-set, with the liner-notes provided on CD ROM. Practical tip: if you are listening to the CDs through a computer, load the CD-ROM first so that you can access the sleeve notes while listening.
 
Dufay’s Ecce ancilla Domini begins the collection. The purity of the harmony, combined with the clear intonation of this vocal ensemble, is immediately striking. The music itself is engaging on many levels, and it has always impressed me how early vocal polyphony can maintain a sense of freshness and relevance 650 years after it was composed. Ockeghem’s Missa pro defunctis has some wonderfully expressive moments and the range in texture between the sections for different numbers of voices is effective. This work is thought to be the earliest surviving polyphonic Requiem mass - although it is possible that Dufay made an earlier setting. Ockeghem was respected as the leading composer of his time, although only a relatively small number of works are confirmed as being his, including just 15 mass settings.
 
Overall, this is a good recording with an enjoyable expressive range, excellent intonation and a good sense of ensemble. A few things, however, mar it for me, many of which may in fact be directly related to the time the recording was made. One is the blend of voices, which lacks the sense of unity that one has become accustomed to in recordings of music from this era. I am unconvinced by the use of vibrato, not from the point of view of a purist as such, but more because, for me, it seems to get in the way of the harmonic clarity. This is clearly a matter of personal taste, and it is obvious that this is an element of interpretation which has been carefully considered by the performers, since on the whole, the vibrato is light and in keeping with the dynamic range of the music. The only other small gripe is that the sound of the recording is slightly bass-heavy. I felt that a brighter sound and more acoustic space between the parts might have added an extra sheen.
 
Disc 2, recorded in 1973 has a more spacious sound, and the canons in the opening Kyrie of Ockeghem’s Missa prolationum are well balanced and clear. This mass is undoubtedly a polyphonic masterpiece which is full of magical moments and demonstrates the best of the era. Josquin Desprez’s Missa Da pacem is similarly well constructed, with some warm harmonies and compositional innovations, especially in terms of the use of cantus firmus. Although the authorship of this work has been called into question, Clytus Gottwald makes a good case for it to have been written by Desprez in the extensive booklet notes. The music is performed well. I especially enjoyed the expressive and committed rendition of the Credo, and the peaceful calm of the Agnus Dei.
 
Disc 3 was recorded later, between 1981 and 1988, and the vocal sound seems more evenly balanced. Heinrich Finck’s Sanctus is a fine seven minute work, taken from the Mass for Six Voices. This recording, although in the same resonant acoustic as the earlier discs, has better blending in the voices and the individual lines are also more clearly audible. More offerings from Ockeghem and Desprez follow. The Missa cuiusvis toni by Ockeghem has a beautifully peaceful Kyrie, which sets the atmosphere for the rest of the work. The resonance which develops in the Benedictus is highly engaging, and there are some moments of wonderful harmony which reveal the extent of Ockeghem’s talent. The singing is sensitive, with some well shaped phrases and good attention to expressive detail. The Josquin Desprez work on this disc is Missa super ‘Malheur me bat’, taking its basis from a polyphonic song which was popular at the time. Throughout the work, he demonstrates skilful composition technique, with dazzling polyphony and imaginative harmony.
 
The final disc dates from 1971 and 1984, and includes music by Gombert, Isaac and Brumel. Nicolas Gombert is thought to have studied with Josquin Desprez in the latter part of Josquin’s life, and his 6-part motet Musae Jovis ter maximi was written to commemorate Josquin’s death. Gombert began his career as a singer and composer, and achieved much success, becoming one of the best known composers in the time between Josquin and Palestrina. Musae Jovis uses a cantus firmus which had been used by Josquin himself and is an enjoyable tribute from student to teacher.
 
Antoine Brumel’s Mass Et ecce terrae motus is set for twelve voices, and in its use of antiphony and harmonic shifts, reminds me in some ways of Tallis’s Spem in Alium, which was written several years later. This is Brumel’s most well-known mass, and is a significant work, both in duration and in technique. His compositional style builds on the work of his teacher, Josquin Desprez, but creates further developments of the form, using more chordal textures in this work than perhaps would have been usual for the time. He is freer in his use of imitation than other composers of the time, and his compositional style here anticipates that of Palestrina and others from later eras.
 
The final work in this collection is Heinrich Isaac’s Missa paschalis, which contains the movements of the Ordinary of the mass, but does not have a Credo. It uses the specific chants for Easter Mass as cantus firmus motifs. Some extraordinary moments of harmony are particularly memorable, and plainchant is an important feature.
 
Overall, this box-set provides a good overview of the repertoire of the era, with some well-prepared and carefully considered performances. The choral sound is good although I felt that the audio quality lacks the clarity that is achieved on other recordings of the repertoire - for example, Ensemble Musica Nova’s 2007 Missa Cuiusvis Toni recording on Aeon. Having said that, this set provides excellent value for money and serves as an enjoyable and valuable introduction to the choral repertoire of this era.
 
-- Carla Rees, MusicWeb International 

Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy has gradually built a distinguished catalogue of recordings over the years on Brilliant Classics, and each new release from this German pianist tends to be welcomed in effusive terms by the international press. His accounts of Chopin have met with particular praise. A previous release of the Ballades, Impromptus and Preludes (BC95210) was celebrated by Classics Today as achieving ‘a fusion of impassioned ardour and classical textual rigour… the best of Schmitt-Leonardy’s Chopin adds up to a stimulating and compelling listening journey well worth travelling, even if you’ve heard these works hundreds of times.’ Individual discs of Mendelssohn (BC93975), Schumann (BC93136) and Brahms (BC92512) have likewise attracted admiring comments. According to Gramophone, ‘Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy’s superb technical and musical command holds unflagging interest throughout the [Brahms] variation sets, which easily hold their own among the top versions available.’ With these new recordings, made in 2011 and 2015, Schmitt-Leonardy returns to Chopin, and to ‘his wildest children’ according to Schumann: a comment which has been much parsed for its implications of structural incoherence as well as indomitable passion. In truth, Chopin’s struggle with the larger, multi-movement form has by no means failed, but rather resulted in a more accurate and elaborated mosaic of interrelations, coherencies and references, which cannot be discerned by casual listening or glancing at the scores. Chopin’s ability to balance these elements comes from neatly hidden formal concessions and the use of several compositional tools found in the music of Bach; combined, these aspects award Chopin’s sonatas continuity. Even if the First Sonata is the work of a student, it nonetheless demonstrates some of those Bachian connections and a lyric poise which would come to full bloom in the Second. This work is centred around the grave Funeral March which has become perhaps Chopin’s best-known individual piece. Bachian principles of counterpoint and polyphony are even more richly satisfied by the final sonata of the trilogy, at least until the grand and sweeping passion of its concluding Rondo.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) is best known for his numerous works for guitar. + His Appunti, Op. 210 is a didactic, tripartite work for students in increasing level of difficulty, with each book focusing on a particular performance aspect; intervals from secunde to decime, various (dance) rhythms and figurations, and a collection of 17th-20th c. dances. + These delightful works often surpass their didactic aim, becoming exquisite miniatures, full of invention and wit. + Italian guitarist Enea Leone previously recorded the studies of Fernando Sor for Brilliant Classics (BC94791).

Prolific recording artist with a growing discography of over 100, often groundbreaking CDs, to his name, Brilliant Classics mainstay and promoter par excellence of Minimal Music Jeroen van Veen now finds himself and the music he champions so effectively the focus of six concurrent Brilliant Classic audiophile, 180g 33 1/2 rpm double-LP releases, amongst the label’s first forays into the re-awakened vinyl market. The six albums, each devoted to the piano works of a single composer, feature the music of Phillip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Simeon Ten Holt, Ludovico Einaudi, Yiruma and Erik Satie.

String quartets came into their own in the latter half of the 18th century, and this brand new genre became an irresistible temptation to many composers, not least the young Italian Bartolomeo Campagnoli. The six quartets featured on this disc are bursting with vitality and innovation, as Campagnoli’s penchant for playful melodic lines (especially in the first violin) comes thrillingly to the fore. The composer’s roots in northern Italy, particularly in Padua and Florence, were carried with him as he travelled around northern Europe, settling at various points in Stockholm, Dresden and Hanover. This led to Campagnoli’s own assertion that he combined ‘German learnedness with Italian soul’, a truly pleasurable mixture perfectly suited to the string quartet genre.

Ensemble Symposium are experts in Campagnoli’s repertoire, with founder Simone Laghi currently preparing a critical edition of the composer’s six string quartets for publication in the USA. The group’s masterful and compelling performance is a testament to their extensive historical studies, as they strive to create a strong link between research and active interpretation, with striking results.

Other information:
- Recorded in 2014.
- First recording of the string quartets by Campagnoli.
- Bartolomeo Campagnoli (1751-1827) learned his trade with famous Italian musicians Tartini and Nardini. As a virtuoso on the violin he traveled Europe, where he held several important posts in Freising (Bavaria), Dresden and Stockholm, before settling as Kapellmeister of the famous Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig.
- Campagnoli claimed for himself “the german learnedness with Italian soul”, and his string quartets, the relatively new and “hot” genre of his days (with Joseph Haydn as the supreme creator and master), abound in lyrical melodies set into the firm musical structures of the first Viennese School.
- Simone Laghi, leader of the Ensemble Symposium, did extensive research into the music of Campagnoli, and prepares its first Edition. Their masterful performances breath historical insight and pure delight in the music’s originality.
- Extensive liner notes written by Simone Laghi.
- Contains artist biography.

In addition to electrifying performances and exciting repertoire, this fascinating disc offers several world premiere recordings to the Cage canon. Flautist and Cage expert Roberto Fabricciani is joined by percussionist Jonathan Faralli in anticipation of John Cage’s 100th birthday in 2013, turning out a disc that reveals a rich interpretation couched in intimate knowledge of the composer’s game-changing aleatoric music. An historic disc for an historic event.

Roffredo Caetani (1871-1961) was born into a noble family in Italy. His godfather was nobody less than Franz Liszt, who first recognized his musical talent, and who entrusted him to the care of his own pupil Sgambati. Caetani’s first string quartet was written when he was eighteen years old, modeled on the middle quartets by Beethoven. Twenty years later he wrote his second string quartet, an homage to his great inspiration Franz List. The work is in one continuous movement using the Hungarian scale, lending a unity to the melodic material. The Alauda Quartet was founded in 2011 by students at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since then they have performed in such venues as the Purcell Room of the Queen Elisabeth Hall and the church of St. Martin In The Fields.

"Burney's compositions are competent and reflect his activities as a performer, impresario and church musician. None has achieved lasting fame, although the link to Rousseau's Le devin du village has attracted attention to The Cunning Man. Late in life he described his own music as negligible." This is all New Grove (edition 2001) has to say about Charles Burney's compositional oeuvre. Apparently the author of the article has taken to heart Burney's own judgement as described in the last sentence: he has neglected his music.

Burney is one of the best-known characters in the history of music, in particular because of his publication A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period, in two volumes, printed in 1776 and 1782 respectively, and reprinted several times since. It is a rich source of information about composers and performing musicians from the second half of the 18th century. One of its assets is that the information is not based on hearsay: he extensive travelled across Europe and met most of the composers he descibes personally. That said, it is necessary to adopt a critical attitude to his often explicit personal opinions on the quality of performers and compositions.

Burney was the son of a dancer and violinist. He received most of his musical education from the organist of the cathedral in Chester; here he soon contributed to the musical part of services. In 1744 he became apprentice to Thomas Augustine Arne and in 1745 became acquainted with Handel who engaged him to play in his orchestra in several oratorio performances. It resulted in his obtaining a regular place in the orchestra of the Drury Lane Theatre.

Burney's output as a composer is rather limited. The first opus was a collection of six trio sonatas for two violins and basso continuo which was printed in 1748. In the next decades he published several collections of music, mostly chamber music or keyboard works, and some vocal music. Among his largest works are a set of concertos for strings, an Ode for St Cecilia's Day (which is lost) and an adaptation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's opera Le devin du village.

In 1751 Burney published a set of Cornet Pieces and a fugue for harpsichord, followed by six sonatas in 1761. A sonata for three hands on one keyboard dates from around 1780 and the last collection of keyboard music from circa 1787 comprises preludes, fugues and interludes for organ. The present production includes the two collections of four sonatas each, which were printed in 1777 and 1778 respectively. They are called Sonatas or Duets and are scored for 'for two performers on one Pianoforte or Harpsichord', as the first set puts it on the title page. In his preface Burney claims to be the first composer to write music of this kind. He was wrong, as Elena Previdi rightly points out in her liner-notes. In the early 17th century Nicholas Carlton and Thomas Tomkins had composed pieces for "two to play". That said, Burney was the first to compose such pieces in 'modern times'. It reflects the growing popularity of domestic music making, and it is telling that Burney's two collections were followed soon by comparable pieces from the pen of Johann Christian Bach and Muzio Clementi. The former published his Op. 15 in 1778, including four sonatas for keyboard and transverse flute and two keyboard duets, one for two keyboards and one for one keyboard à quatre mains. It was followed in 1781 by a comparable set of pieces; this time both duets were for four hands on one keyboard. Clementi's Op. 3 was also a collection of sonatas for keyboard and a melody instrument (flute or violin) and three keyboard duets à quatre mains; this was published in 1779, and was followed by several collections of comparable pieces in the 1780s.

The fact that this kind of music was not intended for performance in public concerts, but in the privacy of the homes of the higher echelons of society, explains their diverting nature. This manifests itself in the fact, that they comprise only two movements, and that these are almost exclusively in fast or moderately fast tempi. The sonatas by Burney played here include only one slow movement: the largo which opens the Sonata No. 1 in F from the first set. The fact that all the sonatas are in major keys is also no coincidence.

However, that does't mean that this kind of music is only easy listening stuff. The opening movement of the Sonmata No. 3 in B flat from the first set is called affettuoso and the Sonata No. 4 in F from the second set opens with an andantino con espressione. Some movements also include some dramatic episodes. But overall these pieces reflect the galant idiom which was so popular at the time.

The performers have captured that character quite well, not only in the way they play these pieces, but also in their choice of instrument. They use a square piano, certainly the most popular keyboard instrument at the time and often used for domestic performances. This seems to be the most appropriate instrument for much of the keyboard music written at that time, including most of Johann Christian Bach's solo sonatas, much better than, for instance, a copy of a Walter. Unfortunately square pianos are seldom used, and therefore the choice of such an instrument for these sonatas by Burney is an additional argument for this production.

This is entertainment of good quality, and Burney's sonatas are served well by interpreters and instrument.

– MusicWeb International (Johan van Veen)

This new release includes Brahm’s complete music in which the viola plays a solo part: the two Sonatas Op. 120 and the 2 Gesange Op. 91, for alto, viola and piano. Brahms’ two viola sonatas are masterworks of his late style: the perfect handling of the sonata form sets the structure for autumnal reminiscenses and melancholic introspection, alternated by either passionate or tender interludes. These songs are performed beautifully by violinists Luca Sanzo and pianist Maurizio Paciariello, who made an excellent recording of Hindemith’s Viola Sonatas for Brilliant Clssics. A special treat is the voice of Sara Mingardo in the Zwei Gesange, one of the foremost altos of today, who sung with Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun-Chung, Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Brahms' Op. 34 is one of the many attempts of the young composer at a large symphonic form. First conceived as a string quartet his friend the great violinist Joseph Joachim found it not suited for strings, so Brahms wrote a setting for two pianos, which her premiered himself with Carl Tausig. Again on advice of a close friend, this time his beloved Clara Schumann, who found the work too grand in scope to be limited to two pianos, he wrote a version for piano and strings, the piano quintet Op. 34a. However Brahms still favored the version for 2 pianos, which indeed is a master piece in it's genre. The Haydn variations Op.56 were simultaneously composed for 2 pianos and for orchestra. This ever popular work is often heard in concert, and shows Brahms as the genius of the variation form, transforming the popular St Antoni Chorale into variations of great invention and different characters, from tenderness, playfulness to the joyful maestoso finale. Excellent performances by a young Italian duo, Michele Benignetti and Eleonora Spina, winners of several international chamber music competitions.

The light and airy chamber-scaled divertimenti on this recording were composed in London in the early 1720s. They must have been among the first works with which Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) sought to make an impression on the discerning audiences and business-minded entrepreneurs who, at the time, were instrumental to a music-rich environment that made the city one of the main centers of European culture. It is perhaps to the detriment of his posthumous reputation that Bononcini became known as Handel’s direct rival for the favor of London’s musical public: the rivalry between the two men was even immortalized in a piece of satirical doggerel which popularized the English expression ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee’. In fact these divertimenti scored a popular success as soon as they were published; so much so that these harpsichord transcriptions were quickly produced – and then republished two decades later, when they appeared as Suites de Pièces pour le Clavecin, placing them in direct competition with the collection of works under the same name by Handel. The divertimenti are three- and four-movement works designed not to place any great strain upon the listener’s attention: the longest movement here lasts barely three minutes. Even the slow movements are simple arias, originally conceived with a high melody instrument in mind – violin or transverse flute – and conforming to a serene and courtly character. By and large, however, they are filled with lively, dance-like quick movements, cheerful in temperament even when the tonality is minor, as it is in half the divertimenti. This is the debut album on Brilliant Classics for the harpsichordist Giovanni Paganelli.