Luc Beauséjour’s appealing traversal of Johann Casper Ferdinand Fischer’s Musical Parnassus concludes with the final three of its nine suites, each dedicated to one of the muses. The last suite, Uranie, is certainly the most ambitious: nine movements that conclude with an imposing passacaglia of considerable weight. The eighth suite (Polymnia) introduces a lightly programmatic touch as well: a jaunty march introduces a battle (Combattement), followed by a sprightly “Air des triomphans”. The music really does have an unpretentious charm, characteristics that apply equally to the two suites from Fischer’s Little Musical Bouquet of Flowers that round out this attractive disc. As in the first volume, Naxos has captured Beauséjour’s lively playing and the sound of the harpsichord with natural brilliance and minimal mechanical noise. Anyone investigating the highways and byways of Baroque keyboard music will enjoy Fischer’s contributions. Now how about his Ariadne musica, the almost legendary collection of preludes and fugues that may have inspired Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier?
