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Contents Frescobaldi: Toccata Settima Laurencinius di Roma: Fantaisie de Monsieur de Lorency Rossi, Luigi: Passacaille del sign[or]Louigi Strozzi, G: Toccata quarta Sweelinck: Fantasia Chromatica a 4 in D minor, SwWV258 Picchi: Ballo alla Polacha Bull, J: Melancholy Pavan Bull, J: Melancoly Galliard anon.: Paduana Lachrymae Picchi: Ballo alla Polacha Luzzaschi: Toccata del Quarto Tono Storace, B: Recercar di legature Frescobaldi: Toccate e partite d’intavolatura di cimbalo et organo, libro primo Toccata quarta Toccata prima Picchi: Ballo alla Polacha Valente, A: Sortemeplus con alcuni fioretti Gibbons, O: Pavana No. 292 Dowland: Lachrimae Verae With Melancholy Grace, French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau explores poetic works for keyboard instruments from the 16th and 17th centuries. Rondeau has conceived the album as a somber but eloquent dialogue between two distinct sound worlds: Melancholy, conveyed through chromaticism, and melancholy, conveyed through the musical expression of tears and weeping. Rondeau chose a different instrument for each world: a 16th-century Italian virginal for the “Tears” by the likes of Dowland, Bull, Gibbons and Valente, and a modern replica of an 18th-century harpsichord for the “chromatic” pieces by Frescobaldi, Rossi, Luzzaschi and Sweelinck. The album is given special appeal by the choice of instruments: The original virginal, made in Naples in 1527, is one of the oldest surviving keyboard instruments. Its sound opened up new interpretative paths for Rondeau – e.g. the proximity to the lute, which was also popular at the time. The plucked strings take on an almost vocal component under his hands – generally Rondeau’s unmistakable trademark. His previous recordings with works by Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau and others already radiate an unmistakably sensual “sound”. Now, with this album, Rondeau opens up a view of the vast panorama of the harpsichord’s first heyday – entirely in the light of the pensive, lonely lyrical self who revels in melancholy, a feeling into which a dash of sweetness is also mixed in the expressive works. |