On this complete recording by Léon Berben (who plays on historic instruments, including the historic organs in Tangermünde, Oosthuizen and Liège) it is more than clear that Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) had developed his own compositional style. A compositional style that includes influences in the composer s works like song-bound variation cycles or free forms. For Sweelinck s contemporaries, his fame was based on his distinctive talent as an artful improviser, but his compositions for keyboard instruments show that he should also be appreciated as an outstanding protagonist of the history of music. Léon Berben (organ & harpsichord)
