Firebird Ensemble Plot in Fiction Italian Music For Ensemble (2002)

Absolutely first-class introduction to the brilliant world of early/mid 17th-century Italian harpsichord music, by one of the very best (THE best?) young players in a highly-competitive field. All the big composers are here in about the right proportion - yes, there's considerably more Frescobaldi and, to a lesser extent, Picchi, but also satisfying representative glimpses of vital historical figures like de Macque and Merulo. And ALL the selections are beautiful in themselves and superbly played. Yates is an expert on historical instruments and I think it shows in her discerning choice for this recording - she plays a Ransom & Hammett 1994 build based on Italian c1600 models.

Pléïades was composed during the 1978-79 period upon the appointment of the city of Strasbourg. The composition was played for the first time by Les Percussions de Strasbourg at a performance staged by Les Ballets du Rhin on May 3, 1979. In 1985, the Makoto Aruga Percussion Ensemble of Japan recorded the music for the first time. Les Percussions de Strasbourg, to which Xenakis dedicated this work, also recorded it in 1986 with the composer in attendance.

Marcin Swiatkiewicz, one of today’s leading harpsichordists, invites us to join him in the multifaceted and wondrous world of chromaticism on his latest release. He performs repertoire from the seventeenth century on an Italian harpsichord by Detmar Hungerberg with fourteen keys per octave (split upper keys for d sharp and e flat and for g sharp and a flat) and in mean-tone temperament. The repertoire from the eighteenth century is heard on a two-manual copy after Johannes Ruckers by Christian Fuchs. The chromatic style is a special musical phenomenon. Already highly valued by the Greeks during antiquity, it was discovered for the modern world by Humanist scholars of antiquity during the Italian renaissance.