In Flanders' Fields vol.89 - Five Centuries of Flemish Harpsichord Music

Five Centuries of Flemish Harpsichord Music AD 2015 still pays too little attention to a valuable part of the musical heritage of Flanders. Its repertoire for the harpsichord deserves better than the cavalier treatment it is getting. This CD ambitiously undertakes to cover a 500-year span, from Isaak up to and including Schroyens. Not to cover it completely, of course, but to offer a compelling listen, a colorful kaleidoscope of styles, played on a variety of Flemish harpsichords. Heinrich Isaak (about 1450 – Florence, 1517) had an international career that the 15th and 16th centuries. Most of the instrumental music from this period owed a major debt to the vocal music of the Flemish polyphonists. This CD presents an intabulation of the four-part La Morra; the transcription adds typical diminutions. Ranking even above Isaak, Josquin des Prez (Vermandois, about 1440 – Condé, 1521) was considered the most famous composer in his time. The Italian organist and composer Girolamo Cavazzoni (ca. 1525 – after 1577) let himself be inspired by Josquin and arranged his Fault d’argent for keyboard (Venice, 1543). Prima toni Delasolre, Daphne, Och liefste Lief (O Dearest Dear), Ciaconne en Courante Slapen gaen (Going to Sleep) were selected from two anonymous manuscripts from the Campine region, the Klavierboek van Arendonk (Arendonk is a Campine town) and the Klavierboek van Dimpna Isabella Reijnders, both from the second half of the 17th century, the latter from the town of Meerhout. These works, little gems of simplicity, give us a good idea of the amateur repertoire of that time, mostly consisting of arrangements of songs or dances, often complemented with one of more variations. The abstract Prima toni Delasolre was somewhat expanded for this recording and the arrangement of the song Och liefste Lief is repeated and varied upon.