Kerll: Complete Harpsichord And Organ Music

Description

Of Johann Kaspar KERLL (1627-1693), J.-S. Bach said that he "loved his music"; he even orchestrated the Sanctus from one of his masses. A student of Carissimi in Rome, Kerll became a musician for the archduke in Brussels, then chapel master at the court in Munich, and finally organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. His work contains "only" 24 opus numbers, but among them, some are actually complete Suites. The organist/harpsichordist Matteo Messori has many strings to his bow: he was a student of Arturo-Benedetti Michelangeli for piano, Umberto Pineschi for organ, and Sergio Vartolo for harpsichord; and as the conductor of the Cappella Augustana, he released nearly all of H. Schütz's sacred music on 19 CDs (!). He chose to present this complete Kerll on three harpsichords (copies of old instruments) and on a historical German organ from 1732. While the Magnificat for organ (CD III) may seem of relative interest (well played but quite brief...), the Toccate and Canzone (CD I), the Suites for harpsichord, and especially the Ciaccona and the Passacaglia (CD II) are of the highest order. In these, Matteo Messori's interpretation is exemplary: never metronomic, it knows how to create silences, and welcome rallentandi and accelerandi that "express" the beauty of this music at its best. Two small caveats: it's a pity that the full organ is not very well tuned and that the haute-contre has an overly bright voice. But let's not overlook this release - at least for the first two CDs - especially since this box set is sold at a very reasonable price.