The recording presents four groups of dances from Esias Reusner's lute book, "Erfreuliche Lautenlust" (The Joy of Lute-Playing, Leipzig 1697) played on two different period instruments made by the artist.

4 MP3 Songs in this album (44:25) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Early Music, CLASSICAL: Baroque



Details:
Esias Reusner was a German-speaking lutenist of the second half of the 17th century, from Silesia (now in Poland). He published two collections of lute music in the "brise" (broken) style, so called because of the way that the chordal and melodic elements lie on the lute. He studied lute playing in France and was the one of the principal composers whose work stimulated the popularity of the French lute style in Germany. His work was a major influence on successive generations of German composers, including J. S. Bach and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. Although Reusner is little-known today, the craftsmanship of his music marks him as a master.


Biography:

Clive Titmuss was born in Ilford, England in 1951, and came to Canada in 1955. He went to the University of Calgary as a musicology and guitar student and later studied the lute and related subjects in California, England and finally at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, studying under Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith.

Clive co-founded the non-profit Society of Friends of Early Music Studio in Surrey, B.C. in 1987, and performs the masterworks of the lute and early guitar repertoire. Later he began to study lutherie and has built more than 150 period guitars and lutes on models from the 16th to 19th centuries.

He has performed the solo lute literature in literally hundreds of concerts and he takes great pride in playing music on period instruments of his own construction, designed on historic models.

His work has concentrated on music by Bach, Weiss and Reusner, and especially on the lute music of the 17th century by Bittner, Vallet, Dowland, Galilei and the French school founded by the Gaultiers, Gallot and Charles Mouton for which his has built specialized instruments .

Recent recitals and recordings have included projects highlighting the substantial vihuela repertoirs from Spain and four suites from the large 17th century manuscript collection by Esias Reusner. Even though everything that could be done with a guitar has been done and it seems pointless, he still plays it anyway.

He has established his workshop and studio in Kelowna, overlooking Lake Okanagan in southern British Columbiaâs mountain desert country. Here, he builds lutes, period guitars, and does some restoration work on historic keyboard instruments â and he teaches a small number of dedicated lute and lutherie students in his studio and workshop. His recordings have been heard on radio in half a dozen countries, and his instruments are played by musicians around the world.