After having won numerous international awards for his recordings for various publishers, harpsichord player and musical director of the Capriccio Stravagante ensemble, Skip Sempé, went it alone in 2006, and set up his own label Paradizo which gave him total independence in his choices and in his musical work, which is so personal to him.
In this re-release of a record brought out in 2002 by Astrée/Naive, later marketed under the label Paradizo, Skip Sempé presents a selection of Elizabethan music for one, two, and for three harpsichords or virginals, with his colleagues Olivier Fortin and Pierre Hantaï.
In it, we find the most illustrious names of this English speciality: Byrd, Bull, Gibbons, Dowland, Morley, Tomkins, and others who are not so well-known, or even obscure. It's a unique opportunity to dive into the world of British music with William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley, John Bull or John Dowland, from famous anthologies like the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book or the Dublin Virginal Manuscript.
The three instruments used for this recording, a virginal, an Italian harpsichord and a Flemish harpsichord in the Ruckers style, were produced by the famous Martin Skowroneck – admired by Harnoncourt and Leonhardt – in his Bremen workshop, based on the works of the great artisans of the past. Fourteen of the 26 pieces in this programme are played by Sempé on a virginal, and four on an Italian harpsichord. The musicians arranged eight pieces themselves, to be played "in consort", that is, on two or three instruments. © François Hudry/Qobuz