Scheidemann / Joseph Rassam - Keyboard Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Fourth Book displays an increased tendency towards chromatism, but short of the extreme experimentalism of the two following collections. Amidst the stormy and poignant intensity of pages like Sparge la morte or Moro, e mentre sospiro, there is still room for fleeting accents of gentleness and lightness, traces of luminosity and a certain ease in the movement of the high parts (perhaps an echo of the vocal charms of the 'Trio of Dames'). Thus, this Fourth Book serves as a bridge in Gesualdo's production. The result is a jewel that shines with a light at once brilliant and somber. By the way, does not the surprising façade of Gesualdo's first residence in Ferrara - the Palace of Diamonds - produce the same impression? Perhaps the spirit of Ferrara speaks, in covert fashion, in these madrigals.

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764) was born in Dijon two years before the births of Bach, Scarlatti and Handel. He is probably best known for his operas, but also wrote chamber music and over 60 works for harpsichord. These keyboard compositions, which he wrote between 1706 and 1728 and spread over three volumes, differ greatly from the style of his contemporaries. Rameau's intellectualism and technical brilliance of composition, allied with passion and tenderness combine, in his words, to produce 'true music... The language of the heart'. This features pieces from three of the four suites Rameau wrote for the harpsichord. Virginia Black has selected these to illustrate Rameau's extraordinary talent in descriptive, innovative and often virtuosic writing, and to show how the piano can enhance the works through singing tone and tonal nuance.

A wonderful collection of 15 of the favorite and most popular carols for the Christmas season, performed by the world-famous Choir of King's College, Cambridge.