De Fernando Luca – Renotte: Pieces De Clavecin

Another discovery unearthed by Brilliant Classics, and another name to add to the library of French-Baroque masters, from the voraciously inquisitive mind and virtuoso hands of Fernando de Luca. Who was Hubert Renotte (1704-1745)? He was born and died in the Belgian city of Liege, and for the last decade of his life served as the titular organist of the cathedral there. Accordingly he wrote a good deal of church music, which remains as overlooked as his output for keyboard. This in itself encompasses not only organ music but the distinctively Franco-Italian style of the harpsichord pieces presented for the first time on record in the present album.The C major Suite is launched in dazzling style with ‘Les Roulades et Harpeggio’, living up to it’s title with cascades of sequences up and down the keyboard. Renotte must have been quite the technician, as well as a composer of great taste and refinement. Perhaps he had a sense of humour, too, to judge from the third movement of the suite: ‘Les Bagatelles Ou Les Folies de Liege & Menuet en Suite Des Bagatelles’. Again, true to the title, Renotte presents a series of sharply etched, fantastical sketches, which we might now hear as proto-Beethovenian in their oblique and disconcerting wit. The Suite concludes with, literally, ‘Le Torrent’, another sparkling cataract of notes. Whether or not Renotte ever intended them to be played in sequence this way – the music survives in manuscript, and there is no sign that they were published – the other pieces are also gathered up by key signature. There are 17 such pieces in D major, including a ‘Pastorella’ whose charming character belongs to the association of the key with country manners. On this new recording, Fernando de Luca plays a modern copy by Claudio Capone of a Blanchet harpsichord from 1754. While Jos van Immerseel recorded an LP-length selection of Renotte’s works, this is the first time that the composer’s surviving keyboard music has been recorded complete. The album represents another feather in the cap for a musician who has done a great deal to revive forgotten names from 18th-century music with complete surveys of their music on Brilliant Classics, among them Dufour, Foucquet, Jollage and Siret. ‘[De Luca] thinks outside of the box, and he clearly is a man with discerning tastes. These extend to his playing, which is clear-headed and disciplined, but never rigid. “Charm” is such an overused word, but I cannot think of a better one to describe this music and these performances.’ (Fanfare on the Jollage album, January 2024)

Tracklist:

1. Pices en la [In a]-La Badinne
2. Pices en la [In a]-1Er Menuet – 2Me Menuet
3. Pices en la [In a]-Rondeau
4. Pices en la [In a]-L’enjou
5. Pices en la [In a]-Musette Loure
6. Pices en la [In a]-Marche Des Pandoures
7. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro
8. Pices en Sol [In G]-Rondeau. Presto
9. Pices en Sol [In G]-Menuet
10. Pices en Sol [In G]-Le Petit Rien ; 4 Variations
11. Pices en Sol [In G]-Rondeau en Musette
12. Pices en Sol [In G]-Menuet
13. Pices en Sol [In G]-Andante
14. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro [Gigue]
15. Pices en Sol [In G]-Rondeau. Allegro
16. Pices en Sol [In G]-[Petit] Menuet
17. Pices en Sol [In G]-Andante ; Variation
18. Pices en Sol [In G]-Menuet
19. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro
20. Pices en Sol [In G]-Suitte [Du Prcdent] Allegro en Mineur
21. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro
22. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro
23. Pices en Sol [In G]-Rondeau
24. Pices en Sol [In G]-Gigue en Suitte
25. Pices en Sol [In G]-Allegro
26. Pices en Fa [In F]-Rondeau. Pas Trop Vite Mais Gratieusement
27. Pices en Fa [In F]-Menuet
28. Pices en Fa [In F]-Andante ; Variation
29. Pices en Fa [In F]-Marche Des Miquelets
30. Pices en Fa [In F]-Allegro
31. Pices en R [In D]-Andante
32. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
33. Pices en R [In D]-1Er Menuet – 2Me Menuet en Mineur
34. Pices en R [In D]-Andante ; Variation
35. Pices en R [In D]-Andante
36. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
37. Pices en R [In D]-Andante
38. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
39. Pices en R [In D]-Cciliana. Andante
40. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
41. Pices en R [In D]-Marche Des Chasseurs en Fanfare – Marche Des H
42. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
43. Pices en R [In D]-Pastorella
44. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
45. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
46. Pices en R [In D]-Andante
47. Pices en R [In D]-Allegro
48. Pices in Si Bmol [In B-Flat]-Allegro Non Troppo
49. Pices in Si Bmol [In B-Flat]-Allegro
50. Pices in Si Bmol [In B-Flat]-Andante ; 2 Variations – Gigue en Suite de L’andante
51. Pices in Si Bmol [In B-Flat]-Allegro
52. Pices en Ut [In C]-Les Roulades Et Harpegio
53. Pices en Ut [In C]-Rondeau. Lour
54. Pices en Ut [In C]-1Er Menuet – 2Me Menuet en Trio
55. Pices en Ut [In C]-Rondeau
56. Pices en Ut [In C]-Gigue
57. Pices en Ut [In C]-Rondeau. Cantabile
58. Pices en Ut [In C]-Andante – Allegro
59. Pices en Ut [In C]-Les Bagatelles Ou Les Folies de Lige ; 11 Variations – Menuet en Suitte Des Folies de Lige
60. Pices en Ut [In C]-Le Torrent. Allegro

UPC: 5028421975610
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release Date: 11.28.25
Format: CD