This exciting new disc is the premiere recording on disc of a newly discovered manuscript revealed to contain music attributed to Antoine Selosse by keyboard virtuoso, Terence Charlston.

Discovered in a London second-hand bookshop in 2004, it is quite amazing that this seventeenth-century manuscript with a strongly recusant provenance should be discovered by Dr Peter Leech who who had previously spent eight years dedicated to researching music derived from Catholic recusant communities in the British Isles during the same period, and who continues to do so.

Although it seems possible that Antoine Selosse (the Jesuit musician Antonio Mason alias Selosse, 1621-87, who was active at the English Jesuit College of Saint Omer in the 1680s) is the ‘Selos’ to whom the contents of the manuscript were attributed in the first flyleaf inscription, various factors militate against his authorship of the whole collection.

The repertoire chosen for inclusion in Selosse’s remarkable book covers a broad spectrum of the genres popular in seventeenth century Europe and reveals a wide range of national influences and styles. It consists of mainly dance pieces (often with variations of their own) and these are grouped by key. Few pieces have a specific title and no composers are named but the authorship of only one piece can be stated with confidence: Bull’s popular The King’s Hunt 3 and the suites in G major (13-14) and D major (16-19) are strikingly similar, on stylistic grounds, to works by John Roberts.

As a solo harpsichordist and chamber musician, Terence Charlston has toured extensively and his sympathetic command of original harpsichords, organs, pianos and clavichords has led to him becoming one of the most respected early music performers around today. He is well known to chamber music audiences and performs with many of the major period instrument ensembles and orchestras in the UK and abroad.

“A newly-discovered manuscript found at a second-hand bookshop was revealed to contain music attributed to Selosse. Keyboard virtuoiso Terence Charlton invests the music with a spirited freshness. Enjoyable listening” – Gavin Engelbrecht, Northern Echo

Track List:

DISC 1

1) Variations on La Folia in D minor
2) Ciaccona in C major
3) The King’s Hunt in G major (John Bull)
4) Toccata in G minorSuite in C major
5) Courante and Variation
6) Sarabande and Variation

Suite in F major
7) Allemande
8) Saraband
9) Variation 1
10) Variation 2
11) Variation 3
12) Chaconne in C major

Suite in G major (John Roberts?)
13) Allemande
14) Courante and Variation
15) Courante and Variation in G minor

Suite in D major
16) Prelude
17) Allemande (John Roberts?)
18) Hornpipe or Rant
19) Menuet

DISC 2
1) Toccata in C major for the Vox Humana
2) The Hunting Lesson in G major
3) Fuga Ite missa est in D major
4) Toccata in C major for the Cornet and echos
5) Chaconne in F majorSuite in D major
6) Allemande
7) Courante
8) Sarabande
9) Allemande in F major
10) Allemande and Variation G minor
11) ‘fitt for the manicorde’
12) Allemande in C minor
13) Allemande in C minor
14) Allemande and Variation in F major