Maurizio Croci, Pieter van Dijk - Soler: Six Concertos for Two Organs (2008)

To complement the gradual release of Soler’s complete harpsichord sonatas (the first volume was released last month), Brilliant Classics presents the semi-sacred side of Soler’s prolific output with six concertos for the combination of two organs which was relatively common in large churches of the time. Soler was a priest in the Hieronymite Order, and master of music at the cathedral in Lérida, but also teacher and composer to the Spanish Royal family. These concertos reflect the dancing vitality and Italian influence brought by such patronage: the organists who gave their first performance would likely have been Soler himself and his prince, Infante Don Gabriel. The propinquity of two suitable instruments being now unusual on the Iberian peninsula, Pieter van Dijk and Maurizio Croci have recorded the concertos at the church of San Giacomo del Carmine at Imola