Gerard Jippin

Gerard Willems is one of Australia;s finest concert pianists and Beethoven scholars. He has recorded all the Beethoven sonatas and concertos and has chosen to record the Diabelli on the Australian designed and built Stuart and Sons piano. This instrument features an extra 2 octaves, producing an enhanced resonance and unrivalled sound.

The cantata, to some extent, is a development from the madrigal that appeared in Italy at the start of the seventeenth century. While the madrigal was refined and delicate, the cantata evolved because composers felt the need to introduce a dramatic narrative element into vocal chamber music and thusly the music took a lighter, wittier turn.
Scarlatti is considered as one if the initiators, and also one of the reformers of this genre, whose outlines he established. In his cantatas for a single solo voice and continuo, Scarlatti treats the latter as a true partner of the voice.

First album featuring new versions of prog-rock legends songs called "Keyboards Triangle" was recorded in 1999 by two Japanese bands: Gerard & Ars Nova. It was really splendid disk which many prog fans enjoyed and praised quite much. It's a pity that most of people don't know that in 2002 second part of this project was recorded, this time solely by Gerard. Compared with first part this album is significantly shorter and less diverse (only one band is playing - Gerard, and only 3 bands are covered - King Crimson, UK and ELP).

The Alhambra Palace was built in the early Middle Ages, in the city of Granada, following the Arab conquest of Spain. With its impressive mosaics and sun-drenched gardens, it inspired the creation of many wonderful compositions throughout the centuries. While several works of Francisco Tárrega, Isaac Albéniz and Joaquín Turina have a direct connection to the Alhambra Palace, the Arabian influence is evident in most pieces on this Album.

In the Eighties Novela was a pivotal Japanese band that gradually turned from heavy progressive into hardrock. Their keyboardist Toshio Egawa left Novela to start his own band with a bunch of musicians from which guitarist and singer Yukihiro Fujimura (ex-Vienna) was the most known.
"Irony of Fate" (1991) is their 3rd studio album. All the music of Gerard is around the stunning keyboard wizard Toshio Egawa - his work on hammond, korg and mellotron make envy every key player of of this planet. The music is mainly influence by ELP but with a good cantity of bombastic symphonic arrangements and neo prog moods. Anyway this album is not their best but enjoyble in places. The lyrics are in japanese so for the listners is a minus in Gerard's music.

Handel's stay in Italy between the years 1706 and 1710 resulted in a time of intense creative activity, and he quite naturally gravitated towards the cantata.

Gérard Lesne founded the Il Seminario musicale Ensemble in 1985. Since 1990, the Ensemble has been in residence at the Royaumont Foundation, where it attracts vocalists and instrumentalists who share Lesne's enthusiam for the 17th and 18th century Italian repertoire. The musicians perform on old instruments and strive to reproduce as faithfully as possible the lilt and narrative line characteristic of the baroque style as expressed in works by composers such as Monteverdi, Cavalli, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Caldara, Pergolesi, and the others. The size of the ensemble is variable depending on the repertoire. Based on a rich and varied continuo section (theorbo, cello, basson, double bass, organ and harpsichord) supporting one or more soloists, it can be expanded with the addition of a string quartet to make a small chamber orchestra suitable for performing chamber operas.