The subsemitone keyboard design on the Orp-le-Grand organ, described by Marin Mersenne in 1635, expands the instrument's sound possibilities with its meantone temperament based on pure major thirds.
Compositional Technique
Peeter Cornet's fantasies are characterized by the free and often unexpected appearance of diverse countersubjects within a structured musical discourse.
Composer Biography
Peeter Cornet was an organist at the Spanish court of Brussels for Archdukes Albert and Isabelle and was buried in Notre-Dame au Sablon in 1633.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Peeter Cornet's compositions are noted for their flexibility, fluidity, and creativity, often resembling brilliant improvisations that combine fantasy, extravagance, and structure.
Instruments
The organ at Orp-le-Grand, built in 2009, was designed in the style of 17th-century southern Netherlands organs, featuring ascending and expressive voicing.
Instruments
The Orp-le-Grand organ has unique keyboards with subsemitones, offering 14 diatonic half tones per octave (instead of 12) to allow playing both Eb/D# and G#/Ab.
Performer Biography
Arnaud Van de Cauter, the organist on this album, is a professor of organ at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège and has developed a sensitive approach to artistic practice called 'Body Integration to the Instrument' (I.C.I).
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