The recital, presented by the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków and Prof. Marek Toporowski, will be a presentation of the works recorded on the album Claude Balbastre – Premier Livre de Clavecin.
Claude-Benigne Balbastre (1727-1799) published his first book of harpsichord pieces in 1759, nine years after a decisive move from his home city of Dijon to the metropolis of Paris. France had been inundated with Italian music and musicians for more than 50 years, and Balbastre’s style is inflected by the latest Italian trends, while remaining unmistakably and deliciously French. The titles of the individual works refer to the surnames of distinguished and influential figures in the Parisian world of the mid- to late18th century. They are not necessarily portraits; the point here is rather the dedication, although this music indubitably represents a wonderful picture of the world surrounding Balbastre.
The Polish harpsichordist, organist, chamber musician, and conductor Marek Toporowski, pupil of both Bob van Asperen and Daniel Roth, has made this new recording on a copy of a French harpsichord, completed in 1984 for harpsichordist, pianist and painter Julitta Slendzińska by Zygmunt Kaczmarski.
Claude Balbastre (1724–1799)
• Prélude (1777)
• La De Caze
• La Ségur
• La Castelmore
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), transkr. Claude Balbastre
• Ouverture
• Pantomime
• Entrée
Claude Balbastre
• La Lugeac
• La Suzanne
• À la venue de Noël
• La Bellaud
• La Morisseau
Marek Toporowski harpsichord
