Grand Tour

The harpsichord maker of the greatest eminence... was Joannes Daniel Dulcken. With this quote from Charles Burney, Dulcken stands as one of the most important Flemish harpsichord makers of the 18th century in the tradition of the Ruckers-Couchet dynasty of the previous century. This recording explores the sound the magnificent single-manual Dulcken harpsichord from 1747, now in the collection of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp on permanent loan at the Museum Vleeshuis. Korneel Bernolet proposes an imaginary Grand Tour of the year 1747, with music written in or around the year the instrument was built; as if a Flemish harpsichordist of the time put some first publications of foreign works on the music stand of the Antwerp harpsichord and started to play.