The VI Suittes voor’ t Clavier, Opera Prima by the 17-year-old Dutch composer Reijnold Popma van Oevering were the first to carry forward the innovative harpsichord suite concept of the French composer Francois Dieupart, whose “English” Suites begin with a substantial prelude or overture, a model that was to become widely imitated a few years later in northern Europe. Popma van Oevering’s Opera Prima, with a certain Italian and north German flavour while at the same time bearing witness to an individual style, was to become widely disseminated in Europe, as appears from the mark it left on composers including Bach, Handel and even Mozart. His six harpsichord suites are presented here for the first time as a complete recording, made partly on the monumental Christiaan Muller organ in Leeuwarden, built in 1727 upon the initiative of the composer.
