Joannès

The third in a series of four releases in the Complete Keyboard Works of François Couperin, this three-CD set includes Couperin's third book of harpsichord pieces. Featuring internationally acclaimed harpsichordist Davitt Moroney, this recording showcases two historically important instruments: the 1627 Ioannes Ruckers harpsichord and the 1768 Joannes Goermans harpsichord.

"The harpsichord maker of the greatest eminence… was Joannes Daniel Dulcken". With this quote from Charles Burney, Dulcken stands as one of the most important Flemish harpsichord makers of the 18th century in the tradition of the Ruckers-Couchet dynasty of the previous century. This recording explores the sound the magnificent single-manual Dulcken harpsichord from 1747, now in the collection of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp on permanent loan at the Museum Vleeshuis. Korneel Bernolet proposes an imaginary Grand Tour of the year 1747, with music written in or around the year the instrument was built; as if a Flemish harpsichordist of the time put some first publications of foreign works on the music stand of the Antwerp harpsichord and started to play.

Most likely belonging to the fourth generation of Flemish polyphonists — that of such musicians as Adrian Willaert, Nicolas Gombert, Clemens non Papa and Cipriano de Rore — Josquin (or Johannes?) Baston was one of the many mysterious figures in sixteenth-century music history. Nothing is known about when and where he was born or died, and much uncertainty exists even about his first name. Many of his compositions appeared in printed anthologies alongside those of some of the most important musicians of the first half of the sixteenth century, such as Josquin Desprez and Orlande de Lassus. For the famous printers Tielman Susato and Pierre Phalèse to have included Baston’s works among those of such luminaries of Flemish Renaissance polyphony, they must have considered him to be an excellent composer. Whether Josquin Baston stayed in his native area, or whether he was the same person as the Joannes Baston who was active in Vienna, Poland, and Scandinavia, will remain an open question. This recording of chansons and motets by Josquin Baston explores the fascinating world of the mid-sixteenth-century Flemish style through the output of a very important though largely forgotten composer.