Johann Pachelbel Keyboard music

Organ or harpsichord? This question is ever present throughout the first solo release by Márton Borsányi: the virtuoso and Early Music specialist answers this question individually for each of the works by Johann Pachelbel that is recorded here. Borsányi performs at a select set of instruments, modelled on prominent exemplars of the seventeenth century: the harpsichord emulates the tradition of the famed dynasty of harpsichord builder Ruckers-Couchet, and the sound of the small organ by Peter Meier resembles that of the Nuremberg organ builder Nicolaus Manderscheidt. These instruments make audible the rich colours of seventeenth-century music. The joy of discovery and experimentation with which Borsányi gives each of these works its very own character demonstrates that this music is anything but dull – even if it was first performed over 300 years ago. He manages to capture a vast range of colours in fascinating manner: from wan wafts to sparkling radiance.

Márton Borsányi