Although Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) is now best known for his keyboard music, it was his vocal works that were published during his lifetime. Perhaps his greatest achievement ass a composer was the polyphonic settings for between four and eight voices of all 153 psalms based on the French metrical Psalter of Clement Marot and Theodore de Beze. Published in four volumes between 1604 and 1621, this huge work is one of the great monuments of Protestant sacred polyphony. This 3CD selection from the psalms makes an ideal introduction to them, being performed by a professional Dutch choir, experts in early music and in Renaissance Dutch style in particular, and directed by a number of illustrious names including Paul van Nevel, Philippe Herreweghe, William Christie, Ton Koopman and Peter Philips. The Netherlands Chamber Choir were pioneers in their field, at a time when choirs were behind the pace of instrumental ensembles in terms of taking on a modern understanding of how to perform this repertoire, with smaller forces, tight intonation, pure tone and dynamic thrust of phrase. The selection illustrates the variety and ingenuity to be found in Sweelinck's vocal output as a whole. There is robust, Venetian-style polyphony; elegantly fluid counterpoint; and straightforward, hymn-like simplicity of gesture. Sweelinck shapes and manipulates his original psalm melodies with an imaginative freedom worthy of Bach in his chorale settings. Like Bach, he is a master word-painter, whether evoking concepts of life and death or down-to-earth images of flora and fauna. Recorded in the late 80s at churches in Amsterdam and Haarlem, these performance attracted critical praise when first released, for the 'first-class' vocal ensemble and engineering. This reissue includes full annotations on Sweelinck and the psalm settings included. - Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a highly influential Dutch composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Among his most notable works are his settings of the Psalms, which show his mastery in both vocal and instrumental music. Sweelinck's Psalms are based on the Genevan Psalter, a collection of psalm settings originally developed by the Protestant reformers, particularly for congregational singing in Reformed churches. - Sweelinck's versions of the Psalms elevate these simple melodies with intricate polyphonic settings, blending Renaissance counterpoint with early Baroque elements. His innovative use of harmony, counterpoint, and expressive text setting reflects his ability to bridge the two eras of music. The Psalms are notable for their emotional depth and variety, capturing the moods of the texts - ranging from joy and praise to lamentation and supplication. - These recordings of a selection from the in total 150 Psalms were made in the 1980s and 1990s, by the famous Netherlands Chamber Choir, conducted by the most notable Early Music conductors of the time: William Christie, Ton Koopman, Peter Phillips, Jan Boeke, Philippe Herreweghe and Paul van Nevel. The choir is supported by a rich instrumental ensemble. - Truly legendary recordings of timeless Choral treasures from the Netherlands! Originally issued by NM Classics.

For his 80th birthday, Ton Koopman has chosen some of his favourite tracks from the many recordings he has made for Challenge Classics / Antoine Marchand since 2002. This is a celebratory collection in four parts: music for organ, for harpsichord, chamber music and recordings with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. Ton Koopman: "It was, of course, an almost impossible task to draw up a selection from all of the CDs I have recorded for Challenge Records, but I have tried to choose works that are very close to my heart."

George Frideric Handel made a name for himself as a brilliant organist and harpsichordist early on in his career. As a young man, he travelled from Germany to Italy in 1707. We do not know exactly how much or what Handel composed for harpsichord while in Italy, but we know more starting from the time he settled in England. Handel composed all sorts of works for harpsichord in England, In November 1720, he published the Suites de Piecespour le Clavecin, now known as the Eight Great Suites, his most important work for harpsichord. The spectacular Eight Great Suites show Handel the harpsichordist at his best.

The suites are made up not only of newly composed movements, but also of improved versions of pieces he had written before and of harpsichord arrangements of his own compositions for other instruments. One theme central to interpreting Handel’s works for harpsichord (and the rest of his œuvre, for that matter) is what to do with the dotted rhythms. In Handel’s music, we regularly see a theme appearing in different rhythmic variants – sometimes dotted, sometimes not, or only partially, dotted. The question, therefore, is whether to perform these rhythms uniformly throughout the piece or to play them as they were written out in each instance by the composer. I have in large part chosen the latter.

Ton Koopman, great Dutch organist and harpsichordist sublimating the baroque scene for five decades, here delivers us an overview of the Great Organ (Robert Cliquot/ Julien Tribuot, 1710) of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, inaugurating our collection “L'Âge d'Or de l'Orgue Français” (the Golden Age of French Organ). An anthology of the possibilities of this purely “French style” instrument, here are the two great Suites of Clérambaut, published the same year as the inauguration of the instrument, majestic pieces of Louis and François Couperin, masters of colors, of Daquin’s Christmas Music full of sap, and even a Bach Choral! A Master Organist makes a resounding tribute to the symbolic instrument wanted for his Chapel by Louis XIV.

2019- an anniversary year. For three exceptional musicians 2019 brings cause for great joy and gratitude for several reasons. Ton Koopman, internationally renowned as a harpsichordist, organist, conductor, professor and musicologist, celebrates his 75th birthday. He also looks back on 40 highly successful years with the ensemble he founded, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. His wife, Tini Mathot, an outstandingly gifted harpsichord and fortepiano virtuoso as well as a very successful producer of countless international albums, celebrates her 70th birthday. Klaus Mertens, acclaimed for over four decades as an international concert singer with an admirably wide repertoire stretching from Monteverdi to contemporary composers, also celebrates his 70th birthday. "As the ideal conveyor of Bach's cantatas and passion texts..." he also receives the Bach-Medaille of the city of Leipzig in 2019. As if this were not sufficient cause to celebrate an anniversary, these three musicians cap it all by looking back on 40 years of successful and amicable music-making together in concerts and recording studios by presenting an anniversary album as well as several chamber concerts.

The Fitzwilliam Virginal book is one of the primary sources of keyboard music. The book, which is now housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, hails from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England. This release features excerpts from the Fitzwilliam Virginal book from composers including Giovanni Picchi, Orlando Gibbons, John Bull, William Bird, and more. English conductor, organist, and harpsichordist Ton Koopman performs the works on this album. He was knighted in 2003, receiving the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and is currently a professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.