Justin J. Murphy-Mancini plays Ricercar No. 14 from the 1540 publication "Musica Nova," written by Adrian Willaert.

In 1540, under Adrian Willaert's supervision, one of the first significant publications of keyboard music was produced. Entitled "Musica Nova," this collection gathered contrapuntal works by Willaert, Nicolò Benoist, Girolamo Cavazzoni, Gabriel Coste, Guglielmo Golin, Girolamo Parabosco, and Giulio Segni. On the title page, Willaert writes that these pieces are "suited for singing and playing on organs and other instruments," providing an early definitive instrumentation for music like this. The collection has been neglected by many keyboardists because it was published originally in partbooks, as was the practice even for keyboard music not written in tablature (i.e. the two-staff system we are familiar with today).

Recorded live in concert at Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, December 2013.
Organ: John Brombaugh Op. 25, 1981.

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