Pieter Jan Belder JS Bach Miscellaneous Pieces For Harpsichord

Although now faded into obscurity, Jacques Duphly was one of the most prominent French harpsichordists of his time, famed for his excellent teaching skills and known for his enviable connections with the French aristocracy. His keyboard works are a veritable treasure trove of music for harpsichord lovers; despite having been an organist in his youth, he soon realised that his talents lay with the smaller keyboard instrument, and he moved from Rouen to Paris to make best use of his skills.

The one set of Fantasias for strings and two sets of sonatas for strings have the rich, warm ensemble sound and strong approach to tempo that suit the music so well. The soloists in the Sonata for trumpet and the Suite for two violins are easily in the same league as the best-known international players.

Henry Purcell - Complete Chamber Music - Musica Amphion/Pieter-Jan Belder [1/7]
CD 1: Twelve Sonatas of three parts (1683)
Classical, Baroque | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 431 MB
Recorded: June 2007, Doopsgezinde Kerk Deventer
Released: 2008 | Label: Brilliant 93647/1 | TT: 78:33 | RS
Musica Amphion (Rémy Baudet, Sayuri Yamagata - violin,
Rainer Zipperling - viola da gamba,
Pieter-Jan Belder - harpsich. & organ)

Though he is better known for his theater music, Henry Purcell did not altogether neglect chamber music, and his chamber music is arguably as characteristic and successful as his dramatic music. That argument is made here by the Dutch period-instrument ensemble Musica Amphion under the direction of harpsichordist Pieter-Jan Belder. First-rate players all, the Dutch musicians are wholly up to the challenges of Purcell's music. The one set of Fantasias for strings and two sets of sonatas for strings have the rich, warm ensemble sound and strong approach to tempo that suit the music so well. The soloists in the Sonata for trumpet and the Suite for two violins are easily in the same league as the best-known international players. And Belder, a student of Bob van Asperen, is everything one could want in the suites and miscellaneous pieces for harpsichord: agile, expressive, and always accurate. Recorded in 2006 and 2007, the sound here is bright and clear, yet atmospheric. (James Leonard, allmusic.com)

Jean-François Dandrieu was born in August or September 1682 on rue Saint-Louis, Île de la Cité, Paris. He was the eldest of at least four children and showed such musical precocity that it is reported he played the harpsichord for Louis XIV and his court at the age of five. It can be assumed that his reputation led to great demand for his services as a performer, since he travelled outside Paris as a musician on several occasions. He was not the first musical Dandrieu: his uncle, Pierre, trained as a priest and organist in Angers. It is possible that it was he who organised Jean-François’s studies with the harpsichordist and composer Jean-Baptiste Moreau, a fellow Angevin and near contemporary.

Henry Purcell - Complete Chamber Music - Musica Amphion/Pieter-Jan Belder [6/7]
CD 6: Miscellaneous pieces for the harpsichord
Classical, Baroque | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 330 MB
Recorded: 2007, Doopsgezinde Kerk, Deventer, NL
Released: 2008 | Label: Brilliant 93647/6 | TT: 53:44 | RS
Pieter-Jan Belder - harpsichord

[…] CD 6, comprising of 'miscellaneous pieces for the harpsichord', which on paper appears a little fragmented (each piece averages about a minute in length), works well in the devised order and Pieter-Jan Belder's sprightly performance of these short pieces makes for an enjoyable compilation. (Claudine Nightingale, musicalcriticism.com)

If you’re looking for an acceptable, low-cost cycle of Bach’s harpsichord concertos, this Brilliant Classics set may be of interest. Discs 1 and 2 contain all of the concertos for solo harpsichord and continuo, as well as the Concerto BWV 1060 for two harpsichords and Concerto BWV 1065 for four harpsichords, performed by the modern-instrument ensemble Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum, with soloist Christine Schornsheim, joined by fellow harpsichordists Armin Thalheim, Mechtild Stark, and Violetta Liebsch in the multiple keyboard works. These performances were originally issued in the U.S. nearly 25 years ago on the now defunct Capriccio label.

Pieter-Jan Belder has made over 100 recordings, including the complete Telemann Tafelmusik for Brilliant Classics, and this set is part of his project to record all of Rameau’s keyboard music. On this 3CD set are Rameau’s great sets of pieces for keyboard – Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts of 1741, the Pièces de Clavecin of 1705 and 1724, and the Nouvelle Suites de Pièces de Clavecin of 1726. In the centuries that have passed since his death in 1764, he has been consistently praised by composers such as Debussy (‘A composer I cannot recommend strongly enough is Rameau’ he wrote in 1903), Hindemith, Tartini, D’Indy, and Gluck – what a variety! All wrote of their indebtedness to him, and acknowledged his influence.