The Italian/Irish duo ARPARLA uses music as a way to communicate and interact with others, using the soft and refined tones of the harp and the expressive colors of the violin. Their repertoire focuses on the Baroque period and the transition between Classicism and Romanticism (17th-19th centuries), in which their instruments are perfectly able to express the aesthetics of this era.

Johann Jacob Froberger war einer der bekanntesten und zugleich rätselhaftesten Musiker des 17. Jahrhunderts. 1616 in Stuttgart geboren und 1667 im Dienst der verwitweten Herzogin Sybilla aus der Mömpelgarder Nebenlinie des Hauses Württemberg gestorben, bilden sich in seinem Schaffen alle wichtigen Formen, Satzkonzepte und Ausdrucksideale seiner Epoche ab. Froberger fasziniert gerade in der heutigen Zeit, da alles »Europäische« wieder einmal auf dem Prüfstand steht.

Edinburgh University’s Russell Collection is one of the world’s finest collections of early keyboard instruments. The second volume in John Kitchen’s ongoing project to bring its musical exhibits to life matches music by Handel, Purcell, the Scottish composer Robert Bremner and others including Mozart’s son Franz Xaver with a gloriously vigorous menagerie of spinets, virginals, chamber organs, clavichord and harpsichords.

Absolutely first-class introduction to the brilliant world of early/mid 17th-century Italian harpsichord music, by one of the very best (THE best?) young players in a highly-competitive field. All the big composers are here in about the right proportion - yes, there's considerably more Frescobaldi and, to a lesser extent, Picchi, but also satisfying representative glimpses of vital historical figures like de Macque and Merulo. And ALL the selections are beautiful in themselves and superbly played. Yates is an expert on historical instruments and I think it shows in her discerning choice for this recording - she plays a Ransom & Hammett 1994 build based on Italian c1600 models.

The Swedish trumpet-player Niklas Eklund, born in Göteborg (Gothenburg) in 1969, trained at the School of Music and Musicology of Göteborg University. Further studies took place under the tutelage of Edward H. Tarr at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. After five years as solo trumpet with the Basle Radio Symphony Orchestra, he left the orchestra in the autumn of 1996 to further his career as a soloist. Since then he has appeared with leading ensembles and conductors such as Zubin Metha, John Eliot Gardiner, Heinz Holliger, András Schiff, Robert King, Eric Ericson, Reinhard Goebel, Gustav Leonhardt, the London Baroque, the Bach Ensemble (New York), the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble and the English Baroque Soloists.