Claude-Bénigne Balbastre
Claude Balbastre wrote flamboyant French harpsichord character pieces and Noëls that thrived in Parisian salons and on the organ: portrait pieces full of colour, dance rhythm and courtly swagger, still vivid when the keys rattle and the stops open.
His Pièces de clavecin turn celebrated names into music: La Lugeac, La de Caze, La d’Héricourt, La Ségur, La Suzanne, La Berville. They sit naturally beside Duphly and Forqueray, grand and lively, built for intimate rooms yet ready for virtuoso display. The Noëls carry the same theatrical instinct onto the organ, Christmas variations that let historic instruments speak with brightness and charm. Whether on a painted Ruckers or a colonial Fincham, the writing stays clear, rhythmic and unashamedly entertaining.
Compositions by Claude-Bénigne Balbastre appear on
Perth Concert Hall: Ronald Sharp organ
Jangoo Chapkhana plays the Ronald Sharp organ at Perth Concert Hall. The programme spans Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Bach, Balbastre, Langlais, Messiaen and Eben, and closes with Chapkhana’s own Variations on Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
The Star of the Sea
A superb programme of Italian and French organ favourites, shaped to draw on every resource of the celebrated George Fincham grand organ at St Mary's Star-of-the-Sea, West Melbourne.
Historic Organs of the Barossa Valley, Vol. 2
Christopher Dearnley and John Stiller play seven historic Lutheran church organs of South Australia’s Barossa Valley in the second volume of this survey.
Musical Portraits from the Salons of Paris
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson recreates a salon concert from pre-revolutionary Paris. Grand, lively ‘character pieces’ by Forqueray, Duphly and Balbastre — musical portraits of celebrated figures — are brought to life with deft, accomplished playing.
Fandango
Flamboyant Spanish and French Baroque keyboard music from harpsichordist Elizabeth Anderson, joined by Douglas Lawrence on chamber organ for Soler’s two-keyboard concerto and Couperin’s musettes.