Frescobaldi / Couperin / Böhm / Bach

https://www.discogs.com/Girolamo-Frescobaldi-François-Couperin-Georg-Böhm-Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gustav-Leonhardt-Renaissan/release/10380155

Sometimes publishers just don’t know that it might be a good thing for an album to have a title. In classical music this happens a lot. Why give it a name if you can just refer to the work that is played? And if you don’t have one specific composition, just name all the composers!

My derogatory comments aside, this record is quite nice. Gustav Leonhardt was an absolute giant on the keyboard, and this recording is no exception. It is also a nice collection of very different works, each played on a different historical instrument with its own sound.

Gustav Leonhardt deserves some attention here. The Dutchman was living in Amsterdam, on one of the canals. In fact, I’ve been at his house once, although I didn’t know he was living there: the Bartolotti House. Leonhardt influence on the dutch historically informed performance is enormous. With hundreds of recordings he left a mark on the Early Music. His recording of Bachs Kunst der Fuge from the fifties is still considered the standard.

Leonhardt died in 2012, but worked until 2011. Another proof of the theory that stopping with working kills you.

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