Although he composed roughly one tenth of the pieces in the Thesaurus Harmonicus, Besard was not a professional musician. Educated in law and medicine at the Universities of Dôle and Heidelberg, by around 1600 he had established himself as a lute teacher in Cologne, while continuing to practice as a lawyer and doctor. It has been suggested that he paid for the publication of the Thesaurus by working as an editor of legal texts for his publisher Grevenbruch. Besard later moved to Augsburg where in 1617 he published a second book of lute music, Novus partus, and an expanded edition of his lute tutor in German. Nothing further is known of Besard after this date.

Attempting to condense a collection of music as vast as the Thesaurus Harmonicus into a one hour length recording is a seemingly quixotic endeavour and this in no way claims to be a comprehensive survey of the text. The pieces were chosen for purely personal reasons as being the most interesting, moving and outstanding works I discovered while exploring the book. Much more has been left out than is included in this collection, my intention being to create an expressive musical programme rather than an academic overview.

The Thesaurus Harmonicus contains some of the best-known lute music along with some of the most obscure. Both are presented here. The pieces by Dowland are probably the most famous works for lute, though they contain subtle variations that should make them interesting to even the most experienced listener. Many of the pieces in the collection are extremely short, especially the dance tunes. Tracks 2 and 14 are both formed of three shorter pieces put together to create a longer structure, using one of the dances as the theme in a rondo-esque structure.

1. Praeludium (Lorenzino Romanus)
2. 3 Branles a corde avallee (anon)
3. Canaries (anon)
4. Fantasia (Lorenzino Romanus)
5. Allemande (anon)
6. Courante (anon)
7. Galliarda (Pomponio da Bologna)
8. Praeludium (Lorenzino Romanus)
9. Fantasia (Lachrimae Pavan) (John Dowland)
10. Galliarda (Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard) (John Dowland)
11. Fantasia (John Dowland)
12. Preambel (Lorenzino Romanus)
13. Passamezzo (Jean-Baptiste Besard)
14. 3 Voltes
15. Allemande (Une Jeune Fillette) (Jean-Baptiste Besard)
16. Branle (Jean-Baptiste Besard)

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 03/21/2015
James Akers lives in Epsom England

Tagged as: Classical, Renaissance, Instrumental, Composer: Jean-Baptiste Besard, Composer: John Dowland, Composer: Lorenzino Romanus, Lute

1. Music of Fernando Sor by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
2. Cancionero by Dufay Collective: instrumental and vocal music from the Middle Ages and Reniassance
3. Brave New World by Sterling: sublime and ethereal electronic music
4. Renaissance Lute by Ed Durbrow: Renaissance lute music.
5. 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime by Steve Eulberg: smile-inducing, toe-tapping folkgrass
6. Courante by Edward Martin and Thomas Walker: French lute duets that represent the pinnacle of the High Baroque
7. Two Romantic Piano Trios by Women Composers by Streicher Trio: classical chamber music on period instruments
8. The First Gate by Eight Gates: charming folk pop/rock with a hint of electronica opening the gates to the land of the fairies
9. Switch On - Switch Off by Strojovna 07: techno.
10. Sick Songs by Electric Frankenstein: high energy punk rock & roll
11. Burgundy Rhymes by Suchitra Lata: Swirling Chillout, Ambient, World, Progressive Pop, Indian classical veena and much more in between
12. Dalliance by Emavision: the sound of trees falling between East n' West
13. Mobius Strip by Suchitra Lata: Swirling Chillout, Ambient, World, Progressive Pop, Indian classical veena and much more in between
14. Dreaming by Emma Wallace: angst-free modern ragtime
15. The Vision Of Enoch by Sulis: heavenly, healing, early music
16. Down the Rabbit Hole by Emma Wallace: angst-free modern ragtime
17. Sundowner by Sundowner: shape-shifting space rock sound of vast drifting guitar-scapes
18. Crowd of Reeds by Emmalee Crane: ambient, orchestral drone music
19. Among the Lasses, songs of Robert Burns (1759-1796) by Susan Rode Morris: early music delivered with a voluptuous voice and intensely focused delivery
20. Fever Dreams by Endless Blue: Trashy Beats, Melancholy Keys, Sultry Vocals

• MP3: High quality MP3 variable-bit-rate files. Most people download these: they are audiophile files that play everywhere.
• ALAC: Perfect quality Apple Lossless format files. If you use iTunes or an iPod, get these. They're an exact audio copy of the original CD, and include the CD artwork and artist info. This is the same format as High Definition audio provided by the iTunes store.
• AAC: High quality Apple Audio Codec files. If you use iTunes or an iPod, these files sound great and include CD art and artist info. This is the standard format provided by the iTunes music store.
• WAV: Perfect quality WAV files. This format works everywhere, and is an exact audio copy of the original CD. It sounds fantastic. Album art and artist info is unfortunately not possible with this format.
• FLAC Perfect quality open source FLAC files. This is an open source audio format. It is an exact copy of the original CD, and includes CD artwork and artist info. Works great on Linux, VLC and many audio players based on open source.
• OGG: High quality open source OGG files. This is an open source audio format. It is a compressed (smaller file size) version of the original CD, and includes CD artwork and artist info. Works great on Linux, VLC and many audio players based on open source.
• 128k: Medium quality 128K MP3 files. These are medium audio quality MP3 files that will work on every device. The audio quality is good enough for most uses. These files are intended for cases where you want to conserve disk space.