Other than the Gabrielis and Claudio Merulo, Divox's
Masters of the Italian Renaissance does not offer any "masters" of the Italian Renaissance, mainly obscure figures who are known to have composed keyboard-specific music in Italy during the 16th century, consisting of canzona, ricercare, and song intabulations. The repertoire may be typical of its time, but the instrument on which they are played here is not typical in any way.
Andrea Marcon is playing a restored organ that was built in 1533 for the Church of SS. Corpo di Cristo in Valvasone, now Pordenone. Known as the "Valvasone organ," this instrument is the only known organ in Venice that dates back so far; initially installed by organ builder Vincenzo Columbi, it is likewise the only instrument built by him in existence. Restored in 1999, the Valvasone organ has extremely limited resources in comparison to a modern organ; it has only 47 keys, and 20 of the notes in the pedals are permanently coupled to the same notes on the keyboard. However, it is far more "original" than many ancient organs; when you consider that of one so-called "medieval" organ only the empty sound box is original, this instrument has some of its original pipes from 1533 and a reproduction of its building contract is reproduced in the booklet.
Marcon's playing is fine; some may take issue with his ornaments or, rather, his relative lack of them, but this organ is not in any way usual; one can imagine that the action on an almost 600-year-old organ would be rather stiff to the touch, even after restoration. Usefully each of the album's 24 tracks is devoted to a different registration and a list of these is included as well. The organ has a relatively soft voice and a slightly bitter mean-tone tuning that is nonetheless tasty, and Divox's recording of it is adequate without being particularly outstanding. Nevertheless for those who have a strong interest in vintage organs, the organ featured on Divox's
Masters of the Italian Renaissance is about as "vintage" as you can get.