Stefano Bonaccorso Bryan Beaver

Francois Couperin, known as ‘le grand’, won renown when, at the early age of 25 in 1693, he was appointed to a high position in Louis XIV’s private chapel. In the following years he compiled the core of his greatest works, the four monumental Pieces de clavecin, which represent the apex of his compositional mastery with a refined use of counterpoint and a galant taste for embellishments and rich, often subtly melancholic characterization. This album features eight preludes from Couperin’s L’Art de toucher le clavecin to create small suites that freely use pieces from the first two books of the Pieces de clavecin.

Works by the famous theorbo virtuoso Kapsberger have often been recorded, but little space has so far been given to repertoire drawn directly from manuscript sources. Kapsberger maintained a privileged relationship with his city of birth throughout his life. The Venice of Willaert, Gabrieli and Monteverdi, however, is not just a magnificent past: it is still alive today and continues its musical tradition in the so-called Second Venetian School of Malipiero, Maderna, Nono and whose most recent protagonist is Claudio Ambrosini (1948-), winner of the Prix de Rome and the Leone d'Oro at the Venice Biennale, whose works have already been recorded, among others, on the Kairos and Stradivarius labels. Kapsberger, Secret Pages reveals an astonishing instrumental challenge between lesser-known works by Kapsberger in which we admire ideas and creative intuition, and Ambrosini's unpublished works, which contain equal amount of creativity and unexpected possibilities for the instrument.

The first compilation to attempt an all-encompassing overview of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music's career, Street Life was originally released in 1986, four years on from the band's break-up. And, across four sides of vinyl, it represented one of the most lovingly compiled tombstones any band could receive. Subsequent compilations have, of course, undermined it a little, but still it's difficult to criticize a collection that wraps up every significant hit single that the two parties enjoyed, from "Virginia Plain" and the oft-overlooked "Pyjamarama" through to "Jealous Guy" and "Avalon," via "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "Slave to Love."