Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) has mainly gone down in history as the great example of Roman Catholic polyphonic church music. Less well-known are his eight instrumental ricercari, which are played by the Dutch organist Liuwe Tamminga on the very old organ of Lorenzo da Prato (second half of the 15th century) in the Basilica di San Petronio in Bologna. Tamminga combines this ricercari
… with a number of works by Giovanni de Macque (1550-1614). This composer came from Flanders. However, he worked in Naples around 1585, having first been active in Vienna and Rome. His ricercari are more complicated and embellished than Palestrina's. Tamminga also plays some of De Macque's "Canzoni alla francese". These canzoni were inspired by the French polyphonic chansons from the 15th century. The CD opens with De "Macque's Intrada d'organo", which is a fine example of how Italian organists probably improvised in those days. The CD also includes works by Scipione Stella, Rinaldo dell'Arpa and Filippo de Monte. (HJ) _more
