JACQUES IBERT : Chamber Music (Complete) 2CD (1996) FLAC (tracks) lossless

Jacques Ibert (1890 - 1962) was a unique figure in 20th century France. In his long life he was influenced by the various musical styles, from the 'impressionists' Debussy and Ravel, through the neoclassicism of Satie and the Groupe des Six, to later more expressionistic composers. But foremost he was himself, and he wrote in a vivid, spiritual and often humorous style, in which his Gallic Esprit always shone forth. This set contains his complete chamber music output, for such diverse instruments al harp, guitar, flute, cello, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, harpsichord and trumpet.  brilliantclassics.com   Tracklist & Credits :

LUTOSLAWSKI : Orchestral Works (Witold Lutosławski · Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra) 3CD (2009) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

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BORODIN : Complete Chamber Music (Moscow Trio · Moscow String Quartet) 3-CD SET (2009) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Alexander Porfireyevich Borodin was the illegitimate son of a prince and his mistress, educated at home in St Petersburg by his mother. Although music was an early passion, he discovered his avocation once he matriculated at the city's Medical-Surgical Academy. A chemist he became, and a good one, though not without his extra-curricular enthusiasms: the head of department once admonished him thus, mid-lecture: 'Mr Borodin, busy yourself a little less with songs. I’m putting all my hopes in you as my successor, but all you think of is music: you can’t hunt two hares at the same time.'
This release contains a selection of chamber music, great performances by the Moscow Trio and the Moscow String Quartet.  brilliantclassics.com   Tracklist & Credits :

ALBERT ROUSSEL : Complete Chamber Music (Jet Röling · Irene Maessen · Schönberg Quartet · Paul Verheij) 3-CD SET (2007) APE (image+.cue) lossless

A rare collection: all of Roussel’s music for small ensembles. It is a mix of varied combinations; sometimes highly unusual ones like piccolo and piano. A late starter, Roussel’s compositions mainly date from the first decades of the twentieth century.

Composer Albert Roussel has written a relatively limited oeuvre of delightful music. His works sound typically French and increasingly impressionistic. Then a neo-classical period followed. Somehow Roussel has not benefited from the popularity of music by contemporary French composers.

Recordings on this release include rarely performed music like the Aria no. 2 for Oboe and Piano, and Music from Elpénor, Poème radiophonique for flute and string quartet (1937). Also included are the Deux poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 26, for flute and soprano.

Great performances by prominent Dutch musicians like Paul Verhey on the flute, horn player Herman Jeurissen and cellist Herre-Jan Stegenga. brilliantclassics.com
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HENRY PURCELL : Complete Chamber Music (Musica Amphion · Pieter-Jan Belder) 7CD BOX-SET (2007) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

A rare treat: instrumental chamber music by Henry Purcell. In spite of his past and present international fame too little attention has been paid to this part of his oeuvre. This collection offers a great variety: from ‘the Staircase overture’ to voluntaries for organ.

Henry Purcell’s present fame is mainly based on some dramatic works – Dido and Aeneas -, his anthems and numerous songs. In his relatively short life he managed to compose in every genre usual at the time. Well hidden among a vast amount of vocal music lies a relatively small collection of chamber music pieces.

Together with Handel, Henry Purcell was and is England’s most important baroque composer. He was also an organist and as such left behind remarkable little for his instrument. Pieter-Jan Belder - the keyboard player who also recorded the complete Scarlatti sonatas - combined this with Purcell’s varied music for harpsichord, which includes eight suites. Here, together with, his ensemble Musica Amphion, he also performs the bulk of Purcell’s chamber music: listen and enjoy. brilliantclassics.com    Tracklist & Credits :

Lyadov : Complete Piano Music (Marco Rapetti) (2011) 5CD BOX-SET | FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

The Russian late Romantic composer Anatoly Lyadov is somewhat overlooked compared to his famous contemporaries, although Modest Mussorgsky had tipped him for greatness: “A genuine talent! Easy, natural, daring, fresh and powerful…” Lyadov’s work shows great precision and attention to detail, but he did not fulfil his potential, because he was also unreliable, very self-critical, and totally lacking in ambition.

This superb five-CD set of Lyadov’s Complete Works for Piano features many first recordings, and reveals as never before his wonderful contribution to this repertoire. His piano works form the largest part of his output, and his idiomatic writing for the keyboard proves that he was an accomplished pianist. His style was firmly rooted in the European romantic tradition, particularly the music of Schumann and Chopin, but he also liked to include traditional Russian and Polish themes. He was not interested in sonata form and none of his piano works are very long. In fact his two major piano Works are sets of variations. He composed a large number of charming piano miniatures, the most famous being the enchanting Musical Snuffbox, a regular encore piece, and the delightful Marionettes.Many of these intimate, polished little jewels are minor masterpieces, and deserve to be a regular part of the piano repertoire.There are also joint compositions, such as the ingenious cycle of piano Paraphrases written together with Borodin, Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov, all members of the so-called Mighty Handful set of composers. Scriabin’s harmonic vocabulary provided the model for Lyadov’s later works, including the Four Pieces Op.4. brilliantclassics.com
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LUZZASCHI : Complete Keyboard Music (Matteo Messori) (2014) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

The Ferrara-born Luzzasco Luzzaschi might not exactly be a household name, but his contribution to the development of the madrigal places him within that elite category of composers who helped shape the course of music history. The favourite musician of Duke Alfonso II, the last of the legitimate d’Este (the most intellectual and cultivated dynasty of Renaissance Italy) it was Luzzaschi who, in his role as the finest keyboard player of the period, cultivated the open score approach to performance. This was essentially a sort of motet of madrigal without words that focused on highly refined counterpoint and on the complexity of fugues i.e. four-voice writing, without recourse to embellishment or any added prettiness.

Only the second of the composer’s three books of ricercari, as detailed in this recording, has survived – a regrettable fact, given that the 1578 manuscript is unrivalled in its complexity among keyboard music of the second half of the 16th century. The book also comprises the only known free-form composition by Luzzaschi, the melancholic Toccata del quarto tuono; also included on the recording are two counterpoints on the plainchants ‘La Spagna’ and Ave Maris stella, as well as the simple, unpretentious Canzona – Maestro Messori’s keyboard arrangement of an ensemble piece published in the Raveri collection of Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti (1608) by various composers.

Indeed, Messori’s interest in and understanding of this period of music history is confirmed by his critical open score edition used for the recording (shortly to be published by Ut Orpheus at the time of writing), as well as his assured performances. Using different Italian harpsichords to convey a sense of ‘chamber music’, in addition to the organ and spinet, he conjures up the refinement and splendour of the Ferrarese court with ease and grace, presenting a strong case for why this Renaissance composer - and former teacher of Frescobaldi, who further cultivated keyboard open-score notation – deserves to be better known. brilliantclassics.com   Tracklist & Credits :

GEORG BÖHM : Complete Harpsichord and Organ Music (Simone Stella) 4CD BOX-SET (2013) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Spanning 4 CDs and presenting over three hours of absorbing listening, this charming release explores the musical output of Georg Böhm – one of the most important German organists and composers around the turn of the 18th century, and who is considered to have had a major influence on the training of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The compilation focuses on the main nucleus of Böhm’s output, his works for keyboard, and divides equally into those for harpsichord and/or organ. Of chief interest among the pieces for the former instrument are the 11 Suites, works that were probably written for domestic performance, and these are joined by a range of other genres also common to the period. From the French Overture style of the Prelude in F to the art of variation that is the Chaconne in G, Böhm’s compositions abound in inventive detail, and we soon move onto the works for organ – where the composer’s most important contribution to North German keyboard music, that of the chorale partita, comes to the fore.

Performing all these works is Simone Stella, one of today’s most celebrated early music specialists and whose discography already includes two recordings for Brilliant Classics (Buxtehude’s Complete Organ Music 94422; Buxtehude’s Complete Harpsichord Music 94312). The release offers a fascinating insight into what is perhaps a lesser-known facet of the Baroque repertoire, and is certain to delight keyboard music aficionados. brilliantclassics.com    Tracklist & Credits :

GIOVANNI GABRIELI : Complete Keyboard Music (Roberto Loreggian) 3CD (2017) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Having received his first exposure to music through his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli grew up in the creative atmosphere of Venice’s San Maurizio district and within the walls of St Mark’s Basilica, where he would become organist in January 1585. In the years in which Giovanni was active, the churches of Venice bore witness to the emancipation of instrumental music from vocal music. At St Mark’s, music for the organ appeared alongside liturgical choral music, independent from the latter and comprising motets and instrumental pieces. Indeed, in Gabrieli’s Venice a distinction was being made between virtuoso organ soloists and choral accompanists.

His works for keyboard, whilst relatively scarce in his catalogue, embrace all of the main genres in fashion between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. This recording presents the entire body of work, and was put together predominantly on the basis of the manuscripts held by the Foà and Giordano collections in Turin. Following the removal of numerous works and the discovery of new manuscripts, the recent Charteris (C.) catalogue comprises four toccate, 16 ricercari and six canzoni da sonar. These are joined by the 11 Intonationi d’organo designed originally as introductions to vocal works or other instrumental compositions.

Performing these works is noted musician Roberto Loreggian, who released the 6-CD set of the Complete Keyboard Music of Giovanni Gabrieli’s uncle, Andrea, on Brilliant Classics in 2015 to great critical acclaim (BC94432). He has collaborated on several other recordings for Brilliant Classics including the C.P.E. Bach Edition (BC94960) alongside Federico Guglielmo, praised by Gramophone for its ‘fine style and spirit’, and the Frescobaldi Complete Edition (BC94111), which earned him the 2009 ‘National Classical Music Track Award’.

To faithfully recreate the early-17th-century sounds Gabrieli himself would have heard, Roberto Loreggian returns to the historic 1532 Vincenzo Colombi organ at the Valvasone cathedral in northeast Italy, the same instrument he used for his Andrea Gabrieli set and the only 16th-century Venetian organ still in existence. The harpsichord on the recording also dates from the 17th century.

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554/56-1612) was born in Venice into a musical family, his famous uncle Andrea was organist of the San Marco. After serving Duke Albrecht V in Munich Giovanni Gabrieli returned to Venice, where he eventually succeeded his uncle as organist of the San Marco.
Gabrieli was one of the most influential composers of his time, the transition from renaissance to Baroque. In his vocal works he invented the polychoral singing, featuring multiple choirs and instrumental ensembles.
This new recording contains his complete output for the keyboard, organ and harpsichord. His Canzones, Ricercares and Fantasias are highly innovative, virtuoso works in which in some of them he introduced for the first time dynamic markings.
Roberto Loreggian is one of the foremost keyboardists of Italy. In this recording he plays on a historic organ in Valvasone, built around 1533 by Vincenzo Colombi, the specifications of which are included in the booklet, which also contains an essay on Gabrieli by a noted musicologist.  brilliantclassics.com
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FUX : Complete Music for Harpsichord (Filippo Emanuele Ravizza) 2CD (2017) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Born in 1660 into a family of peasant farmers, Johann Joseph Fux died in 1741 as Kapellmeister at the Habsburg court in Vienna, a prestigious post that he had held for almost 30 years: an extraordinary rise in fortune and testament to both considerable gifts as a musician and, self-evidently, an inclination towards hard work and self-improvement.

He is best known now for the Gradus ad Parnassum. This monumental treatise was published in 1725 at the Emperor’s expense and quickly became an indispensable manual on counterpoint, studied and absorbed by generations of composers thereafter. However, its formidable reputation should not overshadow his talent as a creative musician, which is displayed here in five keyboard partitas, a colourful Capriccio and a set of 12 minuets as well as a trio of shorter pieces. In all of them may be heard – and enjoyed – a surprising degree of charm, grace and easefully written melody. Indeed, Fux’s achievement was a perfect balance between rational precision and feeling, artifice and spontaneity.

These new recordings by Filippo Emanuele Ravizzi have few rivals in the current catalogue. Ravizzi is a pupil of Bob van Asperen and Gustav Leonhardt: a distinguished pedigree, which brings a fine feeling both to the tripping, French-style dance rhythms of the partitas and to the potential for darker expressive coloration in the Capriccio and the long D major chaconne (not to be confused with a better-known G major work in the same form, composed by Fux for a chamber ensemble of strings). All these works, not forgetting the Aria passeggiata in C, with its masterful handling of counterpoint (as one might expect) became reference works for Bach and Handel in their turn. Anyone curious to hear the work of a formative figure in the Baroque period will take great pleasure from this set.

Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) overcame his humble origins as son of peasant farmers brilliantly, eventually holding the prestigious post of Kapellmeister at the Hapsburg Court in Vienna for over 30 years, serving 3 Emperors in a row, all of whom were in the possession of a passion for music.
This new recording contains Fux’ complete works for harpsichord: the 5 Partitas, a Capriccio and several miscellaneous works. His style is a perfect blend of French and German keyboard style: French in its elaborate ornamentation, elegance and brilliance, German in the strict counterpoint. Fux is also the author of “Gradus ad Parnassum”, the monumental treatise on counterpoint which became a point of reference for many generations to come.
Harpsichordist Filippo Ravizza plays on a copy made by Luca Vismara of a magnificent Dulcken harpsichord, built in the Flemish tradition and kept in the Smithonian Institute in Washington.
Excellent liner notes written by the artist in both English and Italian, as well as information on the instrument. brilliantclassics.com   Tracklist & Credits :

CLÉRAMBAULT • MARCHAND : Complete Harpsichord Music (Yago Mahugo) (2016) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Straddling the divide between the early French harpsichordists, such as Chambonnières and D’Anglebert, and the later masters of the genre – Couperin ‘Le Grand’, Rameau and Duphly – composers of this inbetween period have in the past been sadly neglected. This release, featuring the complete published harpsichord music of Louis-Nicolas Clérambault and Louis Marchand, who flourished at the turn of the 18th century, reverses that trend, highlighting the fascinating developments taking place in French harpsichord music of the time.

Clérambault was better known for his secular cantatas and organ music, but his sole publication for harpsichord, the Livre de pièces de clavecin, reveals a composer highly adept at writing for the keyboard instrument too. Each of the two suites is divided into ten dance movements, all remarkably diverse. The C major Suite contains a lively Allemande and Gavotte, each followed by a Double, which elaborates on the original. The two Sarabandes are darker in tone, marked ‘fort grave’ and ‘gravement’ respectively. The C minor Suite is also more serious, with some surprising dissonances occurring in the Sarabande. Marchand, too, proves himself to be a thoughtful composer: his Suite in D minor is among the finest of the period, particularly the splendid, introspective Chaconne. In contrast, La Vénitienne is an exuberant, lively piece, short but perfectly formed.

Spanish performer Yago Mahúgo has already released a highly-acclaimed album on Brilliant Classics comprising Royer’s complete harpsichord music (BC94479); Arkiv Music called it a ‘fine disc, which one would be proud to have in their collection’, and it was selected as CD of the Month in Spanish magazine Scherzo. Yago Mahúgo is founder and conductor of Ímpetus Madrid Baroque Ensemble, which has performed at some of the leading Spanish festivals, as well as concert halls nationwide.
The complete harpsichord works by Clerambault and Marchand on one CD!
Louis-Nicholas Clérambault and Louis Marchand are typical representatives of the French harpsichord style, flourishing in the first half of the 18-th century. Their Suites (multi movement sequels of dance forms) are grand, stately, rhythmically free and featuring lavish embellishments, all in perfect accordance with the courtly life at Versailles, the palace of Sun King Louis the XIV.
Harpsichordist Yago Mahugo is winner of several prestigious Competitions, notably the Bruges Early Music Competition. His previous recording on Brilliant Classics of works by Royer received several 5 star reviews in international music magazines, and was “CD of the Month” in the Spanish magazine Scherzo.
Excellent liner notes written by a musicologist. brilliantclassics.com
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GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI : Complete Keyboard Works (Roberto Loreggian) 15CD BOX-SET (2023) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Definitive recordings by the leading Frescobaldi performer of our time, now more conveniently packaged than ever.

In 2007, Roberto Loreggian embarked on a project that would see him record every published work by Girolamo Frescobaldi. Issued as a box in 2011, the Frescobaldi Edition was widely recognised as establishing a new standard of textual authority and interpretative understanding for a composer whose own works have never been as appreciated as much as their influence on his successors.
Then, in 2022, came a new set which committed to disc for the first time all the surviving unpublished music composed by Frescobaldi and recovered from obscure sources by Etienne Darbellay and Costanze Frey. All these recordings are now coupled with the keyboard collections from the earlier set, to present the most complete collection ever issued of Frescobaldi’s works for harpsichord and organ, both sacred and secular. The importance of Frescobaldi can hardly be overstated, either for his own time or subsequent generations. In his day, his fame, as modest as it may seem to us today, exceeded that of virtually all his contemporaries, except perhaps Claudio Monteverdi, and he was unrivalled as a virtuoso. Ferrara born, he became organist at St Peter’s in Rome, and attracted crowds of thousands to hear his playing. He spent seven years in Florence at the height of his career, being dissatisfied with his rewards in Rome, and wrote several collections for the Medici family, before returning to Rome.

In the genres of canzona, toccata, capriccio, partite and ricercar, Frescobaldi left many pieces that stylistically bridge lies in style the Franco-Flemish imitative polyphony of the Renaissance, and the fugal form of the Baroque age. Extravagant, ambiguous, beautiful, dramatic and sometimes exquisite, the music of Frescobaldi is the musical equivalent of the art of Caravaggio, Bernini and Pietro da Cortona. No less than them, he embodies early-Baroque genius in Italy.

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583- 1643) was one of the most important and influential composers for the keyboard in the early 17th century. He embraced the late renaissance style in his early output, and by the end of his life had contributed some of the most impressive and influential works to the early Italian baroque.
The son of an organist, he was born in the northern city of Ferrara into a wealthy family. His employer, the Duke Alfonso II d’Este was obsessed with music, and spent several hours a day listening, spending considerable financial resources into music making at court. Young Frescobaldi obviously thrived in this environment for he soon took up employment for the Duke of Mantua, and later became organist to the Medici in Florence from 1628-34. He then went even further by moving to Rome to work for the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII. In this elite society he mingled with such names as Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona.
Although Frescobaldi was influenced by numerous earlier composers such as the Neapolitans Ascanio Mayone and Giovanni Maria Trabaci and the Venetian Claudio Merulo, his music represents much more than a summary of its influences. Aside from his masterful treatment of traditional forms, Frescobaldi is important for his numerous innovations, particularly in the field of tempo: unlike his predecessors, he would include in his pieces sections in contrasting tempi, and some of his publications include a lengthy preface detailing tempo-related aspects of performance. This CD set presents the complete organ works and complete harpsichord works by Frescobaldi, an immense collection of Ricercars, Toccatas, Canzoni, Fantasias and Capriccios, played on historic instruments or copies of these.
Played by the eminent Italian Roberto Loreggian, an Early Music specialist with an impressive discography to his name. The recordings in this set were previously issued separately. brilliantclassics.com
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ANDREA GABRIELI : Complete Keyboard Music (Roberto Loreggian) 6CD BOX-SET (2015) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

One of the most important composers of the 16th century, Andrea Gabrieli wrote hundreds of works in his lifetime, many of which are now sadly lost. As for the few surviving ones, here the listener is treated to some remarkable creativity and experimentation: free-flowing toccatas, ricercars, variations and verses for mass constitute the bulk of his oeuvre. Although many of Gabrieli’s extant works are vocal pieces, there are around 60 keyboard compositions in existence, works that reveal his astonishing creativity. The toccatas start with a typical free section in the imitative style, followed by rapid figures designed to showcase the virtuosity of the performer. Indeed, it was even remarked that performers were justified in hitting wrong notes, as long as they fully upheld the practice of diminution, fast passages of improvised counterpoint. Gabrieli’s ricercars are more structured, with a marked focus on double counterpoint and contrary motion. Though in some ways they resemble the vocal motet, with the use of several voices, the keyboard allows for the music to stretch far beyond the bounds of voice limitations. In fact, the ricercars probably served a liturgical purpose, with Gabrieli in all likelihood composing for the organ. He also composed organ versetti – or versets – for church services, giving us a valuable insight into the prescribed order of the time, as well as providing notated versions of music that was frequently improvised.

Performing these works is noted musician Roberto Loreggian, who has already made several CDs for Brilliant Classics; his recording as part of the C.P.E. Bach Edition (BC94960), alongside Federico Guglielmo, was praised by Gramophone for its ‘fine style and spirit’.

The first complete recording of the keyboard works of Gabrieli (1532-1585), one of the most famous and influential composers of the late Renaissance and the most important representative of the Venetian School. A native of Venice he went to Germany to study with Lassus. Later he became organist of the famous San Marco in Venice, the most important post in Northern Italy at that moment.
Gabrieli was one of the first composers to write purely instrumental music. His works for keyboard (organ, cembalo) consist of Ricercars, a monothematic form which is the forerunner of the Fugue, brilliant and virtuoso Preludes and Toccatas, and lavishly ornamented arrangements of madrigals and other vocal works.
Italian Roberto Loreggian is one of the foremost keyboardists of this time. His extensive discography includes the complete keyboard works of Frescobaldi. He plays the wonderful, recently restored historic organ of the Duomo of Valvasone.

Booklet contains excellent liner notes and information on the instruments used. brilliantclassics.com

KOZELUCH : Complete Sonatas (Jenny Soonjin Kim) 12CD BOX-SET (2020) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

In 1790, one musical dictionary described Leopold Kozeluch as ‘without question the living composer most loved by young or old’; his works displayed 'liveliness and grace, the noblest melody combined with the purest harmony, and of the most pleasing organization blended with rhythm and modulation.’ His music may have been eclipsed by the legacies of the towering figures Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven since his death in 1818, but performers such as Jenny Soonjin Kim are leading a Kozeluch revival which should see the reputation of this Bohemian-born master rise once more.

Having completed his studies in Prague, including lessons with Dussek, he made his name in Vienna as a teacher and successfulpublisher as well as composer. Though he composed in all the major genres, the best of him is to be found in the keyboard sonatas gathered here. He was regarded as a pioneer of writing for the fortepiano rather than the harpsichord, and he won particular praise from the influential writer Charles Burney: ‘[Kozeluch’s] style is more easy than that of Emanuel Bach, Haydn or Mozart; it is natural, graceful and flowing, without imitating any great model, as almost all his contemporaries have done. His modulation is natural and pleasing, and what critics of the old school would allow to be warrantable. His rhythm is well phrased, his accents well placed, and harmony pure.’

Jenny Soonjin Kim recorded this series between 2013 and 2018 at the Kresge Chapel in Claremont Graduate University, where she oversees the teaching programme for piano and fortepiano studies. Sylvia Berry (Early Music America 21, no. 4, Winter 2015) wrote of the second Kozeluch volume: ‘Kim’s playing is crystalline and lyrical, with exquisitely sensitive phrasing. She is an assured virtuoso who interprets Kozeluch’s music beautifully.’ Now gathered in a single volume they present the first chance to assess his output for keyboard at super-budget price, and in stylish new recordings on a magnificently colourful instrument, a modern copy of a Viennese fortepiano from 1795 made by Anton Walter.

The 50 keyboard sonatas by Leopold Kozeluch, for the first time complete, played on a period instrument!
Leopold Kozeluch (1747-1818) was in his time a highly regarded, even famous composer, on a par with C.P.E. Bach and even Mozart. His keyboard sonatas, although relatively modest in length, share the same qualities with those of his illustrious contemporaries: strong focus on melody and melodious figuration, vivid and brilliant accompaniments and a genuine expression of feeling, both happy and dramatic. His 50 keyboard sonatas are a true treasure trove of hidden “pianistic” gems!
The sonatas in this new set clearly show an evolving, advanced style in terms of dramatic expression and complexity, as well as certain melodic and harmonic characteristics also found in the keyboard works of Mozart, Beethoven and even Schubert.
An international artist who regularly performs music ranging from Bach to Schoenberg in major venues across Europe, Asia and North America, Jenny Soonjin Kim is also a faculty member at Claremont Graduate University in California (the venue for this recording), where she teaches piano and fortepiano. It is her keen interest in scholarship – particularly historical performance practice – that led to her discovery of Kozeluch.
‘Kim’s playing is crystalline and lyrical, with exquisitely sensitive phrasing. She is an assured virtuoso who interprets Koželuch’s music beautifully. This set will interest pianists who would like to augment their repertoire with unknown gems from the period.’ (Early Music America). brilliantclassics.com    Tracklist & Credits :

DOMENICO ZIPOLI : Complete Keyboard Music (Carlo Guandalino • Laura Farabollini) 2CD (2016) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

If the keyboard music of Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) is now played or remembered, it is through the gentle swing of his C major Pastorale with its chirpy central section, popular as communion music with organists. Few of them will know that the Pastorale forms part of a larger collection of Sonata d’intavolatura, which were published as Book 1, with a second book which worked in the same genre but for harpsichord. Both books have been recorded before, but they have never been available as a single set, or at budget price.
The individual works in the harpsichord collection are structured as four- and five-movement dance suites, containing ornate preludes, reflective sarabandes and lively gavottes and gigues, with two more stately partitas, in C major and A minor. They are played here on a copy of an instrument by Taskin in the late 18th century, built by the Piedmontese instrument-maker Giuseppe Corazza. The organ used for the first book of sonatas is a two-manual instrument for the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Castelnuovo Scrivia in the province of Alessandria. It was built in 1612 by the brothers Angelo and Giuseppe Vitani and subsequently revised by Luigi Amati in 1796.

The Princess of Forano to whom he dedicated the sonatas, Maria Teresa Strozzi, may have been related to the bishop, Leone Strozzi, who had confirmed him at Prato Cathedral on 2 May 1699. Both sets of sonatas were written by Zipoli in his early 20s, while he was organist of the Jesuit church in Rome, and they were published in 1716, the same year that he joined the Jesuit order. Having been sent the following year as a missionary to South America, he died of tuberculosis before he could be ordained as a priest, but while in Paraguay composed several cantatas on which he fame now chiefly rests.

Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) led an turbulent and adventurous life. A student of Alessandro Scarlatti and Pasquini he held important posts as organist and composer in Florence and Rome. However he went to Spain to join the Jesuit Society from where he was sent to South America, where he settled in Cordoba (Argentina) as missionary and composer.
Zipoli wrote in the Italian keyboard style as a worthy successor of Frescobaldi, Scarlatti and Pasquini. He wrote for both organ and harpsichord, and both instruments are included in this new recording of his complete output for the keyboard.
Played by Carlo Guandalino on a historical 1612 organ of Castelnuovo Scrivia, and by Laura Farabollini on a copy of a 17th century French Taskin harpsichord. brilliantclassics.com    Tracklist & Credits :

HANDEL : Complete Chamber Music (L’Ecole d’Orphee) 6CD's BOX-SET (1991) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Although best known for his operas and oratorios along with a couple of occasional orchestral works called Water Music and Fireworks Music, Handel did from time to time turn his compositional attention to the chamber music forms of the late Baroque. This six-disc set on Brilliant released in 2006 collects all Handel's works in the genre in a single, inexpensive package featuring superb performances in 1991 by the English period instrument group L'Ecole d'Orphée. In the flute sonatas, soloist Stephen Preston plays with the kind of warm tone and lyrical phrasing that make Handel's music sound fresh and alive. In the recorder sonatas, Philip Pickett plays with the kind of deep feeling and honest sensitivity that make Handel's music sound even better than it is. And in the violin sonatas and trio sonatas, John Holloway plays with the kind of irresistible energy and unabashed virtuosity that make Handel's music seem fully the equal of their best contemporary competition. With the elegant Micaela Comberti on second violin, the dulcet David Reichenberg on oboe, and the subtle Susan Sheppard on cello as well as either the equally talented John Toll, Robert Woolley, or Lucy Carolan on harpsichord, L'Ecole d'Orphée makes the case for the excellence of Handel's chamber music -- a case only the hard-hearted or hard-headed could dispute. Brilliant's un-remastered digital sound is crisp and clean, but a tad too distant. James Leonard   Tracklist & Credits :

DUSSEK : Complete Piano Sonatas & Sonatinas (2024) 10-CD SET | FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760–1812) was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the foremost keyboard performers and composers of his age. Over a span of three decades, Dussek completed nearly 300 compositions, most of which involve a keyboard instrument. The sonata as a genre holds a special position in his overall oeuvre: keyboard sonatas were among his first published pieces in the early 1780s, and the sonata Op.77 in F minor was to be his last work before his death in 1812.

This set is the result of an extensive recording project using the combined resources of eight excellent fortepianists to produce the first comprehensive recording of Dussek’s keyboard sonatas on period instruments. Listeners are invited to take a journey through the brilliant, harmonically beautiful and expressive music of one of the most fascinating composers at the threshold of early Romanticism. While in modern times piano building has been largely standardised, 18th-century instruments were very personal works of art, and their construction differed from town to town and from builder to builder, and even within one builder’s output. The distance between cities as far apart as London and Vienna resulted in two distinct schools of piano building: the “English” and the “Viennese.”

The formidable array of both English and Viennese fortepianos played on this recording (see info below) provides listeners with a parallel journey, alongside through Dussek’s music, exploring the great tonal variety that existed amongst fortepianos in the composer’s day, with each instrument’s unique qualities matched to the differing characters of Dussek’s works.

Other information:
- Recordings date from 2017–2021
- Period instruments used include fortepianos by Longman, Clementi & Co. (London, 1797), (London, 1798) & (London, 1798/9); Chris Maene (Ruiselede, 2003, after Longman–Clementi, London, 1799), (Ruiselede, 2010, after Anton Walter); Robert Brown (Oberndorf, 2009, after Michael Rosenberger, Vienna, c.1810); John Broadwood & Son (London, 1804); Paul McNulty (after Anton Walter, 1792); Thomas & Barbara Wolf (Washington DC, 1983, after Johann Schanz, c.1800); anonymous Viennese 5-octave (c.1795/1800)
- Booklet in English contains a profile of the composer by Olga Witthauer and extensive liner notes on each of the discs, written by several of the performers.

- For the first time all in one 10-CD box: the complete Piano Sonatas and Sonatinas by Johann Ladislaus Dussek!
- Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760-1812) was born in rural Bohemia. He led a restless life, travelling Europe as a keyboard virtuoso and settling in several European capitals, notably Paris and London, where he became a fashionable pianist and teacher.
- Dussek’s style is rich, harmonically expressive and pianistically challenging, Classicism on the brink of Early Romanticism.
- Played by 10 eminent and foremost pianists playing period instruments: Bart van Oort, Piet Kuijken, Alexei Lubimov, Tuija Hakkila, Wolfgang Brünner, Viviana Sofronitsky, Zvi Meniker,
- Ursula Dütschler and Petra Somlai, all of them experts in the field of historically informed performance practice.
- The single CD issued previously has received numerous excellent reviews in the press: Fanfare: ‘Bart van Oort, playing on a late 18th-century Longman Clementi instrument, serves up vital, energetic performances that draw the most from the music… Strongly recommended.’, ‘Uniformly adept performances… that illuminate the music’s characteristic disruptions without over-emphasizing them, and that capture the music’s emotional character (or, more accurately, characters) with impressive conviction.’ (Volume 4, 95604) Brilliantclassics

Tracklist :
CD01 - Op.10 and Op.31 (61:07)
CD02 - Op.25 and Op.39 (54:35)
CD03 - Op.44 and Op.77 (62:35)
CD04 - Op.5, 24, 43, 61 (61:22)
CD05 - Op.18 and Op.45 (65:01)
CD06 - Op.9 and Op.75 no.3 (79:12)
CD07 - Op.47 and Op.64 (59:48)
CD08 - Op.14 and Sonate in G (56:29)
CD09 - Op.35 and Op.69 no.3 (84:40)
CD10 - Sonatinas Op.32 and Op.20 (77:00)

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV : Complete Songs (2009) 3CD SET | FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

As was tradition in his family, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov trained to be a naval cadet. He continued to compose throughout his years in service and was appointed Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the St Petersburg Conservatory, despite having an extremely limited knowledge of music theory. He is now remembered as one of the most influential Russian Nationalist composers of all time, and was an integral member of ‘The Five’.

This release contains every song that Rimsky-Korsakov wrote during his lifespan. True Russian performances by soloists such as soprano Natalia Gerasimova and tenor Alexei Martinov. Brilliantclassics

BIZET : The Complete Orchestral Works • Carmen Suites · L'Arlésienne Suites (Orquestra Filarmonica De México • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra • Enrique Bátiz ) 3CD SET (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Although many listeners will have been introduced to Georges Bizet (1838–1875) through his well-loved operas – notably The Pearl Fishers and Carmen – this fantastic volume celebrates his orchestral music, sometimes overlooked but entirely worthy of attention.

The collection surveys his complete body of orchestral works, taking in symphonies, suites, preludes and overtures. Fans of the dramatic compositions will not be disappointed: a large portion of the three-disc set is devoted to music inspired by or written for the stage. Two suites from Carmen are a highlight, with movements that bring to life the opera’s most magical moments, from Spanish dances to the famous Toréador song and Habañera. An orchestral suite based on the mature opera La Jolie Fille de Perth is also included, as are the two L’Arlésienne Suites of evocative, colourful incidental music to a play by Alphonse Daudet. Bizet’s two main contributions to large-scale symphonic music are also featured: although the composer was never entirely satisfied with Roma symphony, the early Symphony in C is undoubtedly one of his masterpieces, charming and ebullient in style.

Some less well-known but equally impressive works round off this collection, which is rich in opportunities for listeners to discover the different sides of Bizet’s colourful music. Enrique Bátiz, leading two internationally renowned orchestras, delivers thrilling performances, making this an indispensable and comprehensive volume.
Other information:
- This 3-CD set, contains the complete orchestral music of Georges Bizet, featuring such evergreens as the Carmen and Arlésienne Suites, the endearing Jeux d’Enfants and the fresh and brilliant Symphony in C, written in his teens.
- A comprehensive survey of Bizet’s complete orchestral music; the ideal way for aficionados of his operas to discover a different side of this famous French composer.
- Excellent performances by Maestro Enrique Batiz and his Mexican Orchestra, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Includes booklet notes, with detailed information about each work. Brilliantclassics

COUPERIN : Complete Chamber Music (Musica ad Rhenum · Jed Wentz) 7xCD BOX-SET (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits