Another Brilliant Classics discovery and another name for the library of French Baroque masters, born from the insatiably curious mind and virtuoso hands of Fernando de Luca.

Who was Hubert Renotte (1704-1745)? He was born and died in the Belgian city of Liège. In the last ten years of his life, he was titular organist of the cathedral there. Accordingly, he wrote extensive church music, which has received just as little attention as his works for keyboard instruments. This includes not only organ music, but also the unmistakably French-Italian style of the harpsichord pieces, which are presented on this album for the first time on recording.

The suite in C major begins in stunning style with "Les Roulades et Harpeggio", which lives up to its title with cascades of sequences up and down the keyboard. Renotte must have been an outstanding technician and composer with great taste and refinement. Perhaps he also had a sense of humor, judging by the third movement of the suite: "Les Bagatelles Ou Les Folies De Liège & Menuet En Suite Des Bagatelles". Again true to the title, Renotte presents a series of sharply drawn, imaginative sketches that today we might find proto-Beethovenian in their wry and unsettling wit. The suite literally ends with "Le Torrent", another sparkling cataract of notes.

Whether or not Renotte ever intended them to be played in sequence in this way - the music survives in manuscript and there is no evidence that they were published - the other pieces are also arranged by key signature. There are 17 such pieces in D major, including a 'Pastorella', whose charming character is due to the association of the key with rural customs.

On this new recording, Fernando de Luca plays a modern copy of a 1754 Blanchet harpsichord by Claudio Capone. While Jos van Immerseel recorded an LP-length selection of Renotte's works, this is the first time that the composer's surviving keyboard music has been recorded in its entirety. The album is another success for a musician who has done much to revive forgotten names in 18th-century music by releasing complete surveys of their music on Brilliant Classics, including Dufour, Foucquet, Jollage and Siret.