LITTLE CONSORT
BRUGGEN, FRANS - flute

G. de Machaut a.o. Le Lay de Confort Little Consort of Amsterdam &,
Anon. Spain: O Virgo Splendens Anon. England:
Salve Regina Anon. France:
Tres doulx Compains Guillaume de Machault: Le Lay de Confort.

(period performance)

FRANS BRGGEN was born in Amsterdam, studied both flute and recorder at the Amsterdam Conservatory, and pursued advanced studies in the 18th century performance practice at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague. At the age of 21 he joined the faculty of The Royal Conservatory as Professor of Early Music and Recorder, and soon after was appointed to a similar position at the Amsterdam Conservatory. His reputation as a teacher grew quickly and, with Gustav Leonhardt, he is credited with making the Netherlands an important world center of early music. An internationally renowned authority on the performance of music written before 1800, Mr. Brggen has given master classes and lectures throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, and was Erasmus Professor at Harvard in 1972-73 and Regents Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973-74. In addition to this annual schedule of 100 recitals and concerts, Mr. Brggen has made over 90 recordings, many containing previously unrecorded Renaissance and Baroque compositions, and has edited much early music for publication. He is the founder and director of the Orchestra of the 18th Century. In 1972 he formed the group Sour Cream, together with Kees Boeke and Walter van Hauwe.
KEES BOEKE. Viols and recorders. Born in 1950 in Amsterdam, studied recorder with Frans Brggen and cello with Anner Bijlsma at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague, where he graduated with honours in recorder in 1969. He is one of the member founders of Quadro Hotteterre (1968) and 'Sour Cream' (1972), and for three years formed part of Syntagma Musicum. Since 1970 he has been teaching recorder at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague, and the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, and at present gives masterclasses in recorder and early music all over the world. He also is active as a composer and editor of early and contemporary music. With the Kees Boeke Consort he presents portraits of Renaissance composer. Since 1990 he is professor of Recorder and Early Music. at the Conservatories of Zrich and Trossingen, West Germany.

WALTER VAN HAUWE. In order to cover the whole blockflute-literature from the 14th Century up to the present, Walter van Hauwe was co-founder of various ensembles: for the 17th and 18th Century chamber-music 'the Quadro Hotteterre'; for the very early and contemporary music the group 'Sour Cream', and for the 15th, 16th and 17th Century music 'Little Consort'. With the Japanese marimba player Keiko Abe, Walter van Hauwe mainly performs improvisations in several styles. Walter van Hauwe gives master-classes at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and he wrote a method in three volumes: 'The Modern Recorder Player'.

LUCIA MEEUWSEN. Mezzosoprano. Lucia Meeuwsen has studied singing with Annie Hermes at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague, and with Jessica Cash in London. Now she is coached by Sena Jurinac. She is very well-known in Holland and Europe also for the versatility of her repertoire . She has recorded Mediaeval and Renaissance Music with the Syntagma Musicum (Dufay) and the Kaproen Ensemble (Binchois). With the Nederlands Danstheater she has sung Luciano Berio's Folk Songs at the Metropolitan of New York. She has won the Janine Micheau Prize at the den Bosch International Competition for vocalists for her particular affinity for the French repertoire. In Paris, she has executed the works of E. Carter and C. Ruggles with Pierre Boulez's Intercontemporains ensemble.

TOYOHIKO SATOH. Lutes and viol. Was born in 1943 in Japan, where he studied guitar, cello and musicology. Later he came to Europe and studied lute with Eugen Dombois at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. Since 1970, when he made the world's first solo record on the baroque lute (Baroque Lute Recital Vol. I), he has made a number of solo records. One of them won an important prize in Japan in 1980. At the same time he began concertizing throughout Europe, Japan, USA and Canada. He is a member of the Kees Boeke Consort, and plays besides Renaissance lute and baroque lute also theorbo, chitarrone and other instruments of the same family as well as viol. Since 1973 he is a lute professor at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherland, and frequently gives masterclasses in other countries.

(...) The performances are lovely and lively, the sound sparkling and pleasant, detailed and well placed on the acoustic satege. First rate, an unexpected pleasure. Classical C.D. Guide
(...) Meeuwsen sings well on this disc, backed by formidably skilled instrumentalists. Early Music