14 Pieces

To our modern minds, the idea of not holding on tightly to one's own intellectual property is a complete anathema. By the same turn, artistic works that can't be indisputably attributed to a single named creator are mysteries to be solved rather than accepted. However, while plagiarism was beginning to become a concept during the seventeenth century, an artist was still only likely to see it as an important issue if they were planning to publish their works for commercial gain. If not, and if they were part of a collaborative family musical dynasty, it was much less of a thing to get hot under the collar about.

For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his ‘non-prescriptive’ composing method, a sort of aleatory style but which allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, ‘SET’, was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available.

Since 1695 Robert de Visee (ca. 1655 - after 1732) was Maître de guitare du Roy, personal guitar teacher of the Sun King, but he also shone in the chamber concerts of the court as a virtuoso on the theorbo. Xavier Diaz-Latorre gives us here an insight into a repertoire that in De Visee's lifetime was initially reserved for exclusive circles of the French court.