Il Primo Libro

Brilliant Classics presents a three-disc colleciton of organ works from Claudio Merulo (1533-1604). According to fellow organist and composer Costanzo Antegnati (1549–1624), Merulo was famous for ‘the sweet way he played’. In the 16th century the term ‘sweetness’ was mainly related to the practice of ‘diminution’, or ornamentation, and a ‘judicious breaking up of the figures’, so that the application of the coloratura might confer a personal and lively chiaroscuro effect. (Brilliant)