Reviews by the editorial staff of Early Music America. Have a new recording or book? Submit it for consideration.
Drama, Humor, Technicolor from the Butter Quartet
Based in the Netherlands, the remarkable Butter Quartet research and perform music from the late 18th and early 19th c., with rewarding adventures into modern works -- all on period instruments. Their latest album includes string quartets by Haydn and Caroline Shaw.
A Lautenwerk Revival Takes Shape
With two new recordings this year, the lautenwerk — an obscure, gut-stringed, mellow keyboard instrument sometimes called a "lute-harpsichord" — is having its moment. J.S. Bach owned two of them. Wolfgang Rübsam's latest recording, of Bach's didactic Inventions and Sinfonias, is a natural fit.
Changing Attitudes About Musical Counterfeits
A fascinating new book aims to understand the “inventive” musical forgery: not a counterfeit, per se, but a newly created composition that is falsely attributed to someone else. The author investigates not only why forgers may be attracted to such deceptions but, as authentication has shifted from stylistic concerns to source documentation, why we are repulsed when the truth is revealed.
A Six-Pack of Bach from Lillian Gordis
Berkeley-born harpsichordist Lillian Gordis' powerful new Bach recording dwells on sixes: the Partita No. 6 and English Suite No. 6, separated by six preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier. With a unique voice and confrontational attitude, Gordis is a master of this repertoire.
Frauenlob and Medieval Marian Song
An imaginative new album is devoted to music by Heinrich von Meissen, a minstrel poet from Saxony, known as Frauenlob for his praise of the Virgin Mary. Harpist and soprano Anna O'Connell and friends offer his spiritual, often mystical works alongside religious music from other German sources including Hildegard and Oswald von Wolkenstein.
A Game of Arthurian Legends and Period Instruments
A beautifully illustrated 2026 Arthurian video game, 'Legends of the Round Table,' with narration from Boston Camerata's Anne Azéma, sets a new high standard. The period instruments and repertoire supports the plot and visuals for an absorbing game experience.
Scarlatti Via Clementi on a Square Piano
In 1791, Muzio Clementi published an edition of Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas, designed for performance by the nascent piano-forte. A recording of this edition, on a lovely square piano of the period—discovered languishing in a California antique shop—tells its own remarkable tale.
The Fabric of Indonesian Music History
The co-editors of this book of essays, Anna Maria Busse Berger and Henry Spiller, have collected a multitude of narratives addressing how outsiders transformed the fabric of Indonesian musical history.
Notably, Busse Berger has spent most of her career working in early-music scholarship; she now exemplifies the trend toward expanding the definition of early music to a global scale.
Caroline Nicolas’ Gamba Debut: Stylish and Personal
A new recording of golden-age viola da gamba music, highlighted by Marin Marais and Antoine Fourqueray, makes for a rewarding debut album. Pairing the viol with just a single theorbo, intriguingly, allows for easy, conversational flow between the two musicians.
The Brilliant David Munrow, Gone a Half Century
Anyone curious about the phenomenal growth of early music in the last decades of the 20th century is bound to run across the name David Munrow. In his short but ebullient career, just nine years, the English musician, scholar, and entrepreneur arguably did more than anyone to create the early-music scene we know today.
