Esaias Reusner: Delitiae testudinis

by William Carter

Overview

The name of Esaias Reusner is hardly known, even among lovers of lute music. He was a German who lived from 1636 to 1679 and ended his career with Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg. The enthusiastic notes here by lutenist William Carter make a good place to begin learning more about him. These Delitae testudinis ("delights of the lute," not of the turtle) include three large suites of dances for lute, and it is a bit startling to realize that Reusner's seem to have been the first such dance suites ever composed. Moreover, they are weighty, thoughtful pieces, not simple renditions of dance rhythms, comparable in many respects to Bach's instrumental suites of nearly a century later. The dance rhythms, in fact, tend to get lost in the Linn label's murky church acoustic, which highlights a lot of sliding and clanking entirely inappropriate to the music (Carter himself points out that the lute was often used to send French kings off to sleep, and a quiet chamber acoustic would have been better), but Carter's performances are lovely, catching the nuances of what must still have been a quasi-improvisatory genre. Listen to the quite complex Praeludium of the Suite No. 9 in G minor. Reusner may have been influenced by English lute music; there are several strikingly chromatic junctures, and Reusner leans into these satisfyingly. Overall, listeners are likely to ask where Reusner has been all their lives, and this release makes a fine place to begin making up for lost time. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	05/27/2022
Label:	Linn Records
UPC:	0691062067928
Rank:	149531

Tracks

1. Suite XIII in E flat major~Paduana
2. Suite XIII in E flat major~Allemanda
3. Suite XIII in E flat major~Couranta
4. Suite XIII in E flat major~Sarabanda
5. Suite XIII in E flat major~Gigue
6. Suite XIII in E flat major~Gavotte
7. Pieces in F major~Praeludium
8. Pieces in F major~Chaconne, ou Cascades de Mr. de Launay
9. Suite IX in G minor~Praeludium
10. Suite IX in G minor~Paduana
11. Suite IX in G minor~Allemanda
12. Suite IX in G minor~Couranta
13. Suite IX in G minor~Sarabanda
14. Suite IX in G minor~Gavotte
15. Suite IX in G minor~Gigue
16. Suite VI in E minor~Allemanda
17. Suite XI in C minor~Praeludium
18. Suite XI in C minor~Paduana
19. Suite XI in C minor~Allemanda
20. Suite XI in C minor~Couranta
21. Suite XI in C minor~Sarabanda
22. Suite XI in C minor~Gigue
23. Hundert geistliche Melodien evangelischer Lieder~Wir glauben all an einen Gott

Album Credits

Performance Credits

William Carter   Primary Artist,Lute

Technical Credits

William Carter   Liner Notes
Philip Hobbs   Engineer,Recording Producer
Esaias Reusner   Composer
Julia Thomas   Post Production
Klaus Toft Jacobsen   Instrument Design
Amit Lennon   Photography
Timothee Van Der Stegen   Label Manager
Pietro Paolini   Cover Image