April/May 2007
Early Music Today (2)
Claudio Merulo: Complete Works for Organ Vol. 2
This two-CD set continues Molardi's survey of the organ music of Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) who worked variously in Brescia, Venice and Parma. Molardi offers a programme of toccatas, ricerars and canzonas; the order of the pieces has been planned to provide maximum variety in style, key and registration. He plays two fine instruments of the period: the Colombi organ in Valvassone (1532-3, restored 1999) and the Antegnati organ in San Nicola, Almenno (1588, restored 1994-6). Both builders documented contemporary registrational practices, and Molardi incorporates this information into his carefully-researched performances. As so often, music which can look a little unpromising on the page comes vividly to life on the correct instruments; an essential factor is again the meantone temperament. Molardi aptly describes the Antegnati organ as an instrument of etheral and crystalline beauty, of sweet and gentle timbre.
John Kitchen