Melancholy Grace

Rondeau's new release, Melancholy Grace, is a poetic collection of 16th and 17th century keyboard music from Italy, the Netherlands, England and Germany. Among the composers are Frescobaldi, Luigi Rossi, Sweelinck, Dowland, Bull and Gibbons. The album is shaped as a sombre, but eloquent dialogue between two contrasting voices: melancholy conveyed through chromaticism and melancholy conveyed through the musical expression of tears and weeping.

Each voice finds expression on a different instrument: a 16th century Italian virginal (a compact harpsichord) for the 'tears' and a modern replica of a large 18th century harpsichord for the 'chromatic' pieces.