Andrys Basten wrote:

>In the 17th century, classical music was not yet focused on stricter forms
>or tonal centers.  Pieces by Frescobaldi, Froberger et al were a bit more
>rambling in nature, Frescobaldi especially sounding like a jazzman of today
>with some wild changes going on at most times.  Very kinky.  I love his
>stuff.  The preludes, fantasias written by several in those times were the
>most improvisatory of course.

Andrys probably would agree that similar things can be said for the various
plucked instrument composers (mainly lute) during the 17th century as well.

>Since people on this forum seem to have a wide range of musical interests,
>I'm curious to hear from any who might listen to it, to see if it is at all
>like what they'd expect from classical music from the 17th century.

I heard it and I guess I'm not surprised to find that there are always new
things to discover from this period.

>Whether played on the harpsichord or on this electric piano on a quite
>weird setting, it is still unusual to hear, but strangest of all, it sounds
>as if it were written today, more modern than pieces in the primary Baroque
>period, certainly.
>
>I've often wondered what more people would think of this earlier music if
>they heard it (the radios don't play music from this period, usually only
>pre- or post-17th century, except for the more conventional later Purcell
>they might find).

Perhaps Andrys and I are among the few on this List who strongly feel
that 17th century music has gotten short shrift, beyond the Big Guys like
Monteverdi or Purcell.  When one thinks about the fact that the "Rules"
were still being formulated during this time, it stands to reason that
there was a lot of exploration, in tonality and form, and in instrumental
coloring, that makes the discovery of this music all the more interesting
and "connected" to modern musics such as jazz.  To my mind, it's far more
exploratory in nature than Baroque music from the 1700s.

Then add to all this the currents of musical cross pollination from places
such as Latin America (which in itself mixed Native American and African
elements) to Spain and Italy, which then worked their way through the
rest of Europe.  Luckily, newer generations of early musicians have the
knowledge of these "multiethnic" facets to much of this music.  And there
are more of the skills out there to interpret the kinds of notation that
Andrys mentions, and can do the musical improvisation and ornamentation
that the music requires.  Perhaps it's something that gets sneered at in
the traditional CM academies (so I'm told from some of the Early Musician
types that I've interacted with), but I wonder who's selling the greater
number of CDs these days?

Bill H.