Bavarian-born composer Michael Bastian Weiß has studied both music and philosophy, and his notes to the two-movement Fragmenta Missarum pro Defunctis (Fragments of a Mass for the Dead) – although not, curiously, for the other work on the disc, the Sonate über die Dunkelheit (Simphonie Nr. 2) – have a philosophical orientation. The Fragmenta Missarum, he said, apply "a topos of recent musical history, namely working with stillness," to the problem of "reacting to a historical disaster that caused considerable pain to countless people." The work was composed in 2000, and this presumably refers to the Holocaust.

Beautiful, flawless performance by Kenneth Gilbert of a hitherto unknown work, one that deserves far more promimence in the body of Baroque keyboard music that is performed, recorded, and heard today. While there have been numerous recordings of the opera ballet itself, hearing the harpsichord transcriptions is a rare treasure trove.

There is certainly no shortage of recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, but this version by a veteran American performer and teacher has something to offer to the interpretation of this work with so many facets and such a complex structure. Lisa Goode Crawford, a longtime professor at Ohio's Oberlin Conservatory and a performer on historical instruments since long before it was fashionable, plays a powerful harpsichord (apparently a copy of a Dutch Ruckers instrument, although this is not specified anywhere). It allows her to differentiate sharply among the variation types that make up Bach's massive edifice. Tempos in general are on the slow side, allowing the listener to luxuriate in the varied textures.

In his debut solo recording for Linn, Richard Egarr charts the extraordinary breadth of invention at play in works by William Byrd. Richard Egarr’s impressive career, both as a solo keyboardist and conductor (notably with the Academy of Ancient Music), has cemented his reputation as one of the UK’s most compelling musicians.

Gustav Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments. Leonhardt professionally played many instruments, including the harpsichord, pipe organ, claviorganum (a combination of harpsichord and organ), clavichord, fortepiano and piano. He also conducted orchestras and choruses.

The Pièces de clavecin en concerts are a kind of link between the Italian trio sonatas and Bach’s polyphonic trios. An example of the latter would be the trio sonata which concludes the Musical Offering. Another example would be the keyboard sonatas – for harpsichord or pianoforte – with violin or ad libitum accompaniment which were developed considerably at the end of the XVIII century, especially in France.

The 17th century Austrian composer and organist Alessandro Poglietti could not complain about favoritisms during his lifetime. Thus, the Austrian Emperor raised him to the peerage, while the Pope made him Knight of the Golden Spur. His end, however, was sad. During the siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, Poglietti was murdered by the Tartars, while his vast number of children were taken away. Pogletti is especially important for his keyboard music. His 12 ricercares form an important link in the 'development' of the instrumental polyphony between Frescobaldi and Bach.

A fascinating collection of German harpsichord music from one of the instruments finest exponents, Sophie Yates. The German composer Johann Jacob Froberger is the central figure in this collection and he was probably the most significant influence in the development of a distinctive, German style of writing for keyboard instruments. He wrote some twenty-five toccatas of which the two on this album are of very different character; the earlier one is very contrapuntal in style and makes use of a chromatic theme, whilst the other is written in a feer, more improvisatory style, and is harmonically very daring. Sophie Yates writes in her sleeve notes that she wished to include some of the darker more sensual suites, of which the C minor Suite is one of the most striking. Froberger is a colourful composer, and these varied suites, consisting of the usual dance numbers of the day, are most enjoyable. Johann Kaspar Kerll was similarly an innovator and is represented on this album by an impressive Passacaglia which places great demands on the player, Johann Pachelbel is probably most famous as a composer of sacred works and, of course, the ubiquitous Canon in D. Of his instrumental music, the Hexachordum Apollinis is his most well-known work, which comprises a set of six arias with variations, of which the last one is recorded here. George Böhm is best remembered for his influence on other composers, particularly J S BAch.

Louis Couperin was a French Baroque composer and harpsichord player. He was a member of a family of musicians and was one of the most important composers of harpsichord music in his time. He studied with the famous composer and founder of the French harpsichord school, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Louis was introduced to the court of Louis XIV and on April 9th 1653 became organist at Saint-Gervais, one of the most important positions in Paris at the time which he held until his death. He later became one of the organists at the Chapelle Royale.

Mit seinem elaborierten, polyphonen Schaffen gilt der "Römisch Kayserliche Cammer-Organist" im Dienst des Habsburger-Kaisers Ferdinand III. in Wien als Schlüsselfigur der Musik im 17. Jahrhundert. Er ist der erste expressive Virtuose und Komponist für Tasteninstrumente, der Begründer eines idiomatischen deutschen Clavierstils. In allen Clavier-Gattungen seiner Zeit setzte der Frescobaldi-Schüler Froberger dabei Maßstäbe, komponierte Fantasien, Canzonen, Suiten, Ricercare und Capriccios für Orgel, Cembalo und Clavichord. Für Johann Sebastian Bach wurde das innovative Suitenwerk zum Vorbild. Vor allem seine Toccaten im sogenannten "stylus fantasticus" sorgten mit eruptiven Wechseln von rhapsodischen und fugierten Abschnitten für Furore.

Ross's playing is fully worthy: he is lively, technically assured, rhythmically resilient and, above all, he conveys his enjoyment of the music, without eccentricity.

Melancholy Grace is a poetic collection of keyboard music from the 16th and 17th centuries by composers from Italy, the Netherlands, England and Germany, including Frescobaldi, Luigi Rossi, Picchi, Luzzaschi, Sweelinck, Dowland, Bull and Gibbons. The French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau has conceived the album as a sombre, but eloquent dialogue between two contrasting voices: melancholy conveyed through chromaticism and melancholy conveyed through the musical expression of tears and weeping. Each voice finds expression through a different instrument: a 16th century Italian virginal (a compact harpsichord) for the ‘tears’ and a modern replica of an 18th century harpsichord for the ‘chromatic’ pieces.

[Bach] speaks to us in his work in such clear terms that we may quite well call these fugues poems. (…) These have warmth, quiet joy, love. And running through all the poems, dressed in different guises, is the main theme, creating order, binding the work as a whole together: it is a safe bond in all it's diversity. Over all lies the proximity of death." (Enzio Forsblom) In this new recording, Bach's final magnum opus is played by Aapo Häkkinen on a harpsichord built in 1614 by Andreas Ruckers the Elder (1579-?1652) and which belonged to the composer John Blow (1649-1708), organist of Westminster Abbey and former teacher of Henry Purcell. A tradition exists that G.F. Handel had also played this harpsichord.

Eighteenth-century Flemish harpsichord music today is mostly identified with the Pièces de clavecin of 1731 by Joseph-Hector Fiocco (1703-1741). Although this collection, consisting of two major harpsichord suites, undoubtedly forms the high point in the genre, I want this CD to show that Fiocco was certainly not the only good Flemish harpsichord composer.

Johann Wilhelm Hässler was a great and famous keyboard virtuoso in the second half of the 18th century. His style forms a bridge between the Baroque and the early Classical era, a period of “Sturm und Drang”, highly virtuosic and extravagant in its expression of feelings and character. Harpsichordist Michele Benuzzi undertook thorough research into this music, some of which was formerly attributed to Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, before he prepared the present edition, as well as writing the extremely informative liner notes. Played on a magnificent historic 18th century instrument from the Russell Collection in Edinburgh. New Premiere Recording.