RICHARD JONES Sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord London, 1732
Mitzi Meyerson
GCD 921805 2 CDs – digipak
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Performing artists
Mitzi Meyerson, harpsichord
Production details
Recorded in Berlin (Nikodemus Kirche), Germany, in March 2010 Engineered and produced by Maria Suschke Executive producer: Carlos Céster Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet text by Cassandra Hull English - Français - Deutsch - Español
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RICHARD JONES (?-1744)
Sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord
CD I [52:33]
First Set [D minor] 01 Prelude 02 Vivace 03 Tocatt 04 Sarabanda 05 Gavot 06 Minuet 07 Toccatta 08 Giga
Second Set [E major] 09 Prelude 10 Paspie 11 Allemanda 12 Minuet 13 Giga 14 Sarabanda 15 Giga
Third Set [B-flat major] 16 Prelude 17 Sarabanda 18 Allegro 19 Minuet 20 Boree 21 Largo 22 Giga
CD II [59:48]
Fourth Set [A minor] 01 Largo 02 Allemanda 03 Sarabanda 04 Minuet 05 Boree 06 Giga
Fifth Set [B minor] 07 Prelude 08 Allemanda 09 Corente 10 Sarabanda 11 Giga 12 Boree13 Sarabanda14 Vivace
Sixth Set [mixed keys] 15 Allemende 16 Sarabanda 17 Brisk Air 18 Minuet 19 March 20 Scotch Air 21 Hornpipe 22 Corente 23 Minuet 24 Gavote 25 Slow Air26 Minuet
About this CD
All we know about Richard Jones is that he was an accomplished violinist in London, who started leading the Drury Lane Orchestra in 1730. The only notice of his death was an obituary that appeared in a local newspaper in 1744. He produced two collections of sonatas for violin and basso continuo, and this volume of harpsichord works dated 1732.
The American harpsichordist Mitzi Meyerson, after her brilliant forays into the music of Claude-Bénigne Balbastre and Gottlieb Muffat, now presents for the first time a complete recording of Jones’ Suits or Setts of Lessons for the Harpsicord or Spinnet (sic), a collection of pieces which is English Baroque at its finest. This music was much loved when it was composed, but could not compete with Georg Friedrich Handel’s ovewhelming popularity in England at the time, a fact which caused Jones and many of his English-born contemporaries to virtually disappear in the shadows.
Meyerson, in the interview included in the booklet, mentions that in the compositions of Richard Jones she hears “many influences - the depth of Johann Sebastian Bach, the wildness of Vivaldi, and the fresh tunefulness of Purcell”. A great discovery which deserves being enjoyed by all lovers of Baroque keyboard music.
It is not only discerning music lovers around the globe who are giving a warm welcome to the recordings which are being published on Glossa; critical approval in the specialist media has been joining in as well. One example of the latter is the newly-instigated International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) which, for its inaugural 2011 edition, has chosen no less than nine of Glossa’s recent releases in its initial nominations. [read more...]
There are keyboard players whose names adorn books of technical exercises – Carl Czerny, Charles-Louis Hanon and JB Cramer spring to mind – but Mitzi Meyerson, Glossa’s very own expert in sumo wrestling, social work and a Persian cat named Yofi, is cast from a somewhat different mould. It will not just be piano and harpsichord students who will have cause to recall the Chicago-born artist but any number of her fellow citizens (including non keyboard-playing cabbies) now that the ‘Mitzi Meyerson Way’ has officially been opened outside the main entrance to Roosevelt University on downtown Wabash Avenue in Chicago’s 2nd Ward. [read more...]