Harpsichord Music

KTC 1311 . 1CD . 8711801101323 . 01/01/2007 . Etcetera Records

Harpsichord Music

Composer(s):
  • Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)
Artist(s):

Heinrich Scheidemann is well-known as a composer of organ music, and rightly so. Especially after the discovery in the 1950s of the so-called Zellerfeld Organ Tablatures he now occupies a pre-eminent position in the illustrious North German organ school of the first half of the seventeenth century. Until recently however, it tended to obscure the existence of a sizeable body of harpsichord music, which equals his organ music in quality if not in quantity (it occupies only about a quarter of his surviving oeuvre), and which turns out to form a lively and attractive facet of this fascinating musical personality. Scheidemann occupied an important place in the vivid musical life of Hamburg. He stood open to all novelties, not only the new Italian manner as evidenced by the 1657 Canzon, but also the mainly English/French tradition of writing small dance pieces. This is evident in a number of allemands and courants, many of which seem based on pre-existing pieces. Half a century of keyboard styles seem to come together in Scheidemann’s harpsichord music, confirming Mattheson’s portrait of him as an affable and open-minded musician, whose playing was distinguished by its ‘swift hand, good-natured expression and high spirits’. Pieter Dirksen (1961) performs as soloist on both harpsichord and organ and as continuo player with diverse chamber ensembles. He publishes widely about baroque keyboard music, receiving his doctorate ‘cum laude’ with a dissertation on the keyboard music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Further books have been devoted to Bach’s Art of Fugue, Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann (2007), and critical editions appeared with music by ao Scheidemann, Düben, Buxtehude, Lübeck and Bach. Pieter Dirksen is a member of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, the Netherlands Bach Society as well as the chamber music group La Suave Melodia. These are colourful, energetic and technically immaculate performances of works which are very important additions to the repertoire. I am sure that this very attractive disc will give you as much pleasure as it has given me. Classical CD reviews.com on KTC 1356 Not only is this one of the very finest harpsichord recordings yet to have been issued, on any format at any time, it is the product of some of the very finest of Bach scholarship and reconstruction, mostly by the player himself. … complete congratulation … the performance to hear. Stephen Daw, Early Music Review on Kunst der Fuge, KTC 1348

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Track listing

20
artists:
composers:
Harpsichord Music
1 Praeambulum in d 03:52
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
2 Betrübet ist zu dieser Frist (3 variations) 03:37
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
3 Ballett & Variatio in F 02:52
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
4 Allemand & Courant in G 03:33
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
5 Omnia quae fecisti (after Orlando di Lasso) 06:50
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
6 O Gott, wir danken deiner Güt (2 variations) 02:57
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
21
artists:
composers:
7 Pavana Lachrymae (after John Dowland) 05:53
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
8 Mio cor, se vera sei salamandra (after Felice Anerio) 03:24
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
9 Englische Mascarata & Variatio in g 03:44
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
10 Mascarata in C (after Robert Johnson) 01:22
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
11 Französischer Allemand in d 01:08
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
12 Courant & Variatio in d (after Orlando Gibbons) 02:11
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
13 Ballett & Variatio in d 01:27
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
14 Fantasia in G 04:51
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
15 Allemand in d 03:16
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
16 Courant & Variatio in d 03:15
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
17 Praeambulum & Canzon in F 04:46
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
18 Pavana in F/d (by Paul Siefert [1586-1666], after John Dowland) 06:04
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
19 Galliarda & Variatio in d (after John Bull) 04:23
artists: 'Pieter Dirksen'
composers: 'Heinrich Scheidemann (c.1595-1663)'
22
artists:
composers: