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JEAN NICOLAS GEOFFROY Pieces de clavessin

Suitte en c sol ut b mol; Suitte en c sol ut;
Suitte en g re sol b quar et Suitte en d la re

Ewa Mrowca – harpsichord
recorded at Bergheim October 2011

DUX 0137 - 75 mins

A scholarly and musicianly release of keyboard music by a "somewhat forgotten and mysterious" composer (1633–1694) whose manuscripts are fortunately preserved in the Bibliotheque National de France.

They have been researched deeply by this Polish harpsichordist who also studied in London at the Guildhall and at Basle. She plays a copy of a French harpsichord (Donzelague/Hungeberg) but what will be more important for collectors is that she interprets this interesting music with superb style, making this a disc of 17C French harpsichord music to treasure.

The presentation, as with many latterly from Dux, is exemplary, with a full background essay by the artist herself (who seems to be multilingual) and tells us that the music is "full of colour, charming with nuances and tints, caressing the ear with subtleness of ornamentaton, restoring J N Geoffroy amongst superior representatives of the great 17 C French harpsichord school".

Definitely a disc to search out and relish.

Peter Grahame Woolf