Jos Van Immerseel - Jos Van Immerseel: The Accent Recordings 1979-1986 (2015)

A leader of the movement for historically informed performances, Jos van Immerseel has been active in performances of Renaissance and Baroque music, but he has concentrated on piano music of the Classical and Romantic eras, performing and recording much of the keyboard repertoire on period instruments. This eight-CD box set from Accent contains van Immerseel's recordings from 1979 to 1986, played on a variety of original pianofortes and modern reproductions, and with period instruments in the works for ensembles. The first three discs are devoted to keyboard pieces by Clementi, Mozart, and Beethoven, and van Immerseel's performances are energetic and robust, despite the curiously brittle sound of his pianofortes, which at times seem closer in timbre to a harpsichord. The remaining discs show van Immerseel in the company of other artists, in works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Kalliwoda, Pixis, Donizetti, Bellini, Schubert, and Rossini, whose Petite Messe Solennelle closes the set. Issued in 2015 to celebrate van Immerseel's 70th birthday, this set is an affordable introduction to his artistry and to the field of authentic period practices. -- Blair Sanderson