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At last, a new recording with Bob van Asperen: although the grand seigneur of the harpsichord has since withdrawn from active concert life and has devoted himself to musicological research, this recording was made several years ago and can now, following intensive work on the highly interesting accompanying text, be presented to the public.

The programme is devoted precisely to the artistic habitat that was also home to the composers so beloved by Bob van Asperen and his audience, Johann Jacob Froberger and Louis Couperin: seventeenth-century Paris. We thus embark on an astonishing voyage of discovery, even uncovering names that are almost unknown. The works of a newly discovered cycle of Préludes non mésurés – that is, without metre, seemingly free-flowing pieces – each introduce small suites comprising works by different masters, such as we might also have heard in the time of Louis XIV.

The whole is made perfect not only by the inimitably fluid and flexible playing of the great master van Asperen, but also by the use of a restored original historical Ruckers harpsichord, housed at the Palace of Versailles, where the recordings were also made. The album does justice to this by being released as a Super Audio CD in both stereo and surround sound.