New Album of Froberger Keyboard music from Divine Art

May 2020 will see the release of the new album by early music specialist Terence Charlston which contains the complete Fantasias and Canzonas by Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667) – this is the first ever recording of these works on clavichord. This recording was made in October 2019 at the Royal College of Music studios in London with engineer Anna Heath. 

The new recording follows the highly praised first instalment of the complete Harpsichord Suites by Froberger (performed by Gilbert Rowland) on Divine Art’s sister label Athene – volume 2 to be recorded in July 2020. Froberger’s writing in the Suites demonstrates the foundation of the classic baroque dance suite and his individual keyboard works are no less full of interest and originality.

Froberger was a pioneer in the early baroque  and a great influence on many of the great composers from Louis Couperin to Bach, Handel and Scarlatti. His Fantasias and Canzonas are amongst his most beautifully crafted yet most neglected works. Twelve of them survive in a meticulously written autograph manuscript dated 19 September 1649. They are particularly well suited to the clavichord if just the right instrument is available. In 2018, Charlston discovered the clavichord featured in this recording, quite by chance, and realised it would be ideal for this repertoire.  

The clavichord is a reconstruction of a surviving southern German instrument of the later seventeenth-century made by Andreas Hermert in 2009. It takes us close to how the instrument might have sounded originally and provides an excellent means through which to hear the counterpoint of the most important German Baroque keyboard composer of the seventeenth century.  Its dynamic nuance and expressive range, lute-like qualities, distinct timbral changes across its compass, and clarity contrast strongly with the ubiquitous modern-day performance tradition on harpsichord and organ. 

Terence Charlston is one of the UK’s most respected musicians in the early-music field. His broad career encompasses many complementary roles including solo and chamber musician, choral and orchestral director, and teacher and academic researcher. He was a member of the quartet London Baroque between 1995 and 2007 with whom he gave nearly 500 concerts worldwide and since 2009 he has been a core member of the ensemble Florilegium. His large repertoire spans the Middle Ages to the present day reflecting a passionate interest in keyboard music of all types and styles. As well as being an important advocate of keyboard music of the 17^th and 18^th centuries Charlston is also a sought-after and devoted teacher. He founded the Department of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, London in 1995 and is International Visiting Tutor in Harpsichord at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester . He joined the staff of the Royal College of Music, London in 2007 where he is Professor of Historical Keyboard Instruments, a personal Chair created for him in 2016.

Terence Charlston has appeared on over 80 recordings – this is his third since joining Divine Art, following ‘The Harmonious Thuringian’ (DDA 25122) and ‘Mersenne’s Clavichord’ (DDA 25134) both of which featured rare music but also unique instruments and which received glowing critical praise.