This CD is a documentation of the history of the piano, or keyboard, more than anything else. True, the composers featured are among the best known and loved; Couperin, Byrd, Handel, J.S. Bach, Soler, Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn all find their way into the programme, but what we really must focus on is how this music sounded when it was written.
The four instruments used on this disc span a period of just over a century (1727-1832), a century which witnessed huge changes in the tone of keyboard instruments, from the popular harpsichord and spinet to the majestic fortepiano. The renowned pianist Joanna Leach performs with emotion and commitment with the instruments all treated with elegant delicacy.
Space is limited here so one is directed to the excellent programme notes which accompany this disc and which definitely are essential reading. In sum, this is a scholarly disc which should enlighten as much as entertain.
Copyright © 2008 by Gerald Fenech