Composer: Jacob van Eyck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Robert Jones, Johann Adam Reincken, Johan Schop, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Performer: Peter Van Heyghen, Liuwe Tamminga, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Jaap Schröder
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Passacaille
Catalogue: PAS1003
Release: 2021
Size: 408 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Mainerio, Nörmiger: Todesca – [Alman] – Der Sprungkh Drauff
02. anon.: Almande Brun Smeedelyn
03. Frescobaldi: Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiamenga
04. Sweelinck: Ich fuhr mich vber Rheine, SwWV322
05. anon.: Daphne
06. Eyck, Sweelinck: Doen Dafne over de Schoene Maeght, NVE 3 (from “Der Fluyten Lust-hof, Book 1”, 1649) – Daphne, 3 Variazioni
07. Sweelinck: Paduana Lachrimæ
08. Eyck: Pavaen Lachrimae
09. Schop: Lacrimae Pavan
10. Eyck: Malle Symen, NVE 5 / 113
11. Sweelinck: Malle Sijmen
12. Eyck: Engels nachtegaeltje
13. anon.: The Nightingale
14. Eyck: Engels nachtegaeltje
15. Reincken: Hollandische Nachtigahl
16. anon.: Almande de La nonette
17. Eyck: Wilhelmus van Nassouwen, NVE 42
18. anon.: De Wilhelmus
19. anon.: Rosemont
20. Eyck: Rosemont, NVE 10
21. anon.: Cecilia – Aria with Variations
22. Jones: Farewell, Dear Love – Madrigal a 4 (Version Played on Keyboard)
23. Sweelinck: Ballo del Granduca
The title of this CD is a reference to the great Vermeer exhibition at Pallazo Fava in Bologna in 2014, where the famous painting of the mysterious “Girl with the Pearl Earring” was the iconic teaser. Just one street away from the Pallazzo, in the Museo San Colombano, you can find Fernando Tagliavini’s impressive collection of historical instruments. The curator and musician Liuwe Tamminga came up with the idea of recording music from Vermeer’s time on some of these skilfully restored instruments. As usual with his many recordings, Tamminga succeeds in putting together compositions that revolve around a particular theme, and he gathers musician friends around him to make the picture even more interesting. This CD even features the late Jaap Schroder – one of the pioneers of early music in the Netherlands and this may be his very last recording. Together with Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Peter Van Heyghen, these exceptional artists offer some fascinating moments with music from the Netherlands in Vermeer’s time, with works by Sweelinck, van Eyck, Schop and Reinken.
Less prized than Florence or Venice by tourists, Bologna is however one of the Italian cities most rich in art and history. The seat of the oldest university in the Western World, its musical standing is largely unmatched and its exquisite cuisine is exported all over the world. Bologna has born many artists including Adriano Banchieri, Domenico Gabrielli, Farinelli, Ottorino Respighi, Ruggero Raimondi and the lesser known organist and musicologist Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (1929-2017). In addition to his considerable work on the Italian harpsichord and teachings at the universities of Bologna, Padua and Freiburg (Switzerland), he was the happy owner of an extraordinary collection of period instruments which are visible today at the museum of the San Colombano church in his birth town, Bologna. It is here and under the authority of professor Tagliavini that the present album was recorded in 2013. The idea for this project came to him during the exposition of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring in Bologna in 2014. While examining the virginal figure on another canvas by the Flemish painter, The Music Lesson, Tagliavini conceived this musical programme played on two superb harpsichords from his collection.
The pieces chosen are entirely inspired by the relations between Italy and Holland at the time, with composers from the two provinces: Frescobaldi, Sweelinck and many others are presented in a fascinating and particularly intuitive game of mirrors. The Flemish and Italian musicians, Japan Schröder on violin, Liuwe Tamminga on diverse keyboard instruments, Peter Van Heyghen on the recorder and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavin on harpsichord bring to life this hypothetical and moving meeting of Vermeer and Bologna.