Terence Charlston

“Naxos has issued numerous discs in its series Cinema Classics. They offer a wide assortment of music, are generally easy listening, and are a reminder of the frequent use that is made of classical music by film makers. What a resource for film buffs!” FM Program Guide

‘A programme of outstanding music … A gem of a disc’ Goldberg Magazine

Given the stature of Italian music in the Baroque era, it is not surprising to find a vein of Italian musical style running through the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The young Bach took the latest styles and clichés from Vivaldi and Albinoni and studied the music of Frescobaldi and Corelli for counterpoint and structure. Many of the forms in which he worked – including the fantasia, aria, toccata and fugue – were transplanted from Italy during the seventeenth century to find new roots north of the Alps. The pieces recorded here span Bach’s entire working life and show how these stock ideas profoundly influenced all the genres in which he worked.

Matthew Locke was one of the leading English composers of the mid-C17th and his music stands out for its bold treatment of musical ideas, clear melodic sense and unusual treatment of dissonance. His keyboard music occupies a very significant position in the development of both the keyboard suite and the English organ voluntary and represents the first flowerings of a truly baroque style in English music.

During this period French harpsichord makers sought to extend the rich timbre of their instruments and devised better ways to control contrasts of registration and dynamic. This in turn allowed players to enlarge the technical and expressive scope of their music. The pieces recorded here are representative of about sixty years of this process, when the French harpsichord tradition, inspired by the genius of Couperin and Rameau, was at its height.