John Dowland's Lachrimae cycle is among the finest surviving instrumental dance music of the turn of the seventeenth century. This long awaited recording with the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra features new a instrumentation by Skip Sempe: 6 viols, 5 recorders, 2 cornetti, 3 trombones, 2 virginals and harpsichord. Skip Sempe's new performance order of the twenty-one Lachrimae dances revives the tradition of Pavan and Galliard pairs, rather than treating them as isolated movements. The idea of a 'Renaissance Orchestra' in which all the different instrumental consorts are brought together is the overlooked message of these sixteenth and seventeenth century publications. Large ensembles, for large or commemorative occasions, were every bit as much the 'composer's intention' as were smaller, intimate groups. This missing link has been proposed and provided by the concerts and recordings of the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra since the first years of the twenty-first century, and is one of their remarkable achievements in 'cutting through the noise'.

On this release Skip Semp� performs Gustav Leonhardt's transcriptions of Bach's unaccompanied violin and cello works for the harpsichord, along with a selection of 17th century harpsichord repertoire in styles influential to Bach. The American harpsichordist, Skip Semp�, studied music, musicology, organology and the history of art at the Oberlin Conservatory in the USA, and completed his training in Europe with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. His distinctive harpsichord playing, musicianship and interpretive flair were quickly noticed by Reinhard Goebel and William Christie, who encouraged him to remain in Europe and embark on his own pioneering reconsideration of well and lesser-known repertoire ranging from 1500-1750. As a solo performer, Skip Semp� has focused on developing a superb sense of idiomatic harpsichord touch and a finely tuned ear for achieving variation in the instrument's sonority. Performing and recording on the world's most prestigious harpsichords, made by Ruckers, Skowroneck, Kennedy and Sidey, Skip Semp� is particularly known for his interpretations of the French classical harpsichord literature.

Canto a mi Caballero is a celebration of instrumental virtuosity at the height of Renaissance humanism. As Franco-Flemish polyphony and the Italian madrigal spread their influence throughout Europe, the most brilliant Spanish musicians (among them the legendary harpsichordist, harpist and organist Antonio de Cabezón, Morales, Mudarra and Narvaez) were inspired by their foreign contemporaries, as well as by the expression of native Spanish melody such as the mystical ‘Canto de Caballero’. This program presents the Caballero melody in various secular and sacred versions, entwined with some of the most famous music and poetic texts of their time.

Canto a mi Caballero retraces that special moment in Renaissance music in which the humanist tendency in instrumental music first attains its singular goal: expressivity that rivals that of the human voice. Capriccio Stravagante's instrumentation, featuring the consort of viols and plucked strings (guitars, harp, vihuela, along with Skip Sempé's solo harpsichord selections), provide for a touching portrayal of the classic Spanish concept of the ‘Duende’.

Renaissance English Recorders' with Julien Martin and the Résonances Consort revisits almost a century of music making and music publishing, corresponding roughly to the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The repertoire is selected from various sources including two highly important publications of instrumental music: John Dowland’s Lachrimae from 1604 and Anthony Holborne’s Pavans, Galliards & Almains from 1599. The tradition of playing harpsichords in ‘consort’ was widespread in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To recreate that sound, Skip Sempé, Olivier Fortin and Emmanuel Frankenberg perform music played on virginals and harpsichord.

Gustav Leonhardt was one of the finest and most influential musicians of the entire twentieth century. On the harpsichord and the organ, from the music of Byrd to that of the sons of Bach, he was simply incomparable. The present release is a rare, remastered organ recording of Gustav Leonhardt from 1962, on one of Holland's most important historic instruments. This is his only anthology of English Renaissance repertoire on the organ, including works unique to this recording. This recording has not previously been available on modern formats, and has not appeared in any of the various ‘Gustav Leonhardt Editions’ issued by the labels for which he later recorded.