Jean Rondeau (harpsichord)

Frescobaldi: Toccate e partite d'intavolatura, Libro II: Toccata settima
Laurencinius di Roma: Fantaisie de Monsieur de Lorency
Rossi, Luigi: Passacaille del seigneur Louigi
Strozzi, G: Capricci da sonare cembali, et organi, Op. 4, Pt. 1: Toccata quarta per l’elevatione
Sweelinck: Fantasia cromatica, SwWV 258
Picchi: Intavolatura di balli d’arpicordo: No. 5, Ballo alla polacha con il suo saltarello
Bull, J: Melancholy Pavan
Bull, J: Melancholy Galliard
anon.: Pavana lachrymae, WV 106 (Formerly Attributed to Heinrich Scheidemann)
Picchi: Intavolatura di balli d’arpicordo: No. 5, Ballo alla polacha con il suo saltarello (Alternate Version I)
Luzzaschi: Il transilvano, dialogo sopra il vero modo di sonar organi & istromenti da penna, Pt. 1: Toccata del quarto tuono
Storace, B: Selva di varie compositioni d'intavolatura per cimbalo ed organo: No. 22, Recercar di legature
Frescobaldi: Toccate e partite d'intavolatura, Libro I
Picchi: Intavolatura di balli d’arpicordo: No. 5, Ballo alla polacha con il suo saltarello (Alternate Version II)
Valente, A: Intavolatura de cimbalo, Book I: Sortemeplus, con alcuni fioretti (Sortez mes pleurs)
Gibbons, O: Fitzwilliam Virginal Book: Pavana No. 292 in A Minor
Dowland: Lachrimae, or Seven Tears: No. 7, Lachrimae verae

Melancholy Grace is a poetic collection of keyboard music from the 16th and 17th centuries by composers from Italy, the Netherlands, England and Germany, including Frescobaldi, Luigi Rossi, Picchi, Luzzaschi, Sweelinck, Dowland, Bull and Gibbons. The French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau has conceived the album as a sombre, but eloquent dialogue between two contrasting voices: melancholy conveyed through chromaticism and melancholy conveyed through the musical expression of tears and weeping. Each voice finds expression through a different instrument: a 16th century Italian virginal (a compact harpsichord) for the ‘tears’ and a modern replica of an 18th century harpsichord for the ‘chromatic’ pieces.