Paul Beier

Just Released:

For more info, see this page.

It has been about two years since I last updated my website—sorry for the long pause! Here is a brief summary of recent site-related news.

First place goes to the new CD of Dowland’s lute songs from his Second Booke of Songs or Ayres (see the dedicated post above). This has been a years-long project with Michael: every once in a while, we would drop into Saint Bartholomew’s Church in Nomaglio, Italy, and record a few songs. The CD has finally been edited, produced, and published by Stradivarius in online-only format. It is available in all the usual places (Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon Music), as well as on the distributor’s website (Naxos).

More CD reviews have also appeared, especially for the recent recording of Dresden sonatas by Weiss. Here they are:

August 2024, MusicPaper – review of Weiss CD by Massimo Rolando ZegnaOctober 2024, Amadeus – five star review of Weiss CD by Marco Riboni
October 2024, Musica – five star review of Weiss CD by Danilo Faravelli
November 2024, Classic Voice – review of Weiss CD by Carlo Fiore

And here are the two lute society reviews:

August 2024, Lute News – review of Weiss CD by Rick Jones
August 2025, LSA Quarterly – review of Weiss CD by David Montanye

Plus, some Capirola CD reviews have also appeared:

January 2022, Il Giornale della Musica – review of Capirola CD by Paolo Scarnecchia
August 2022, Lute News – review of Capirola CD by Rick Jones
Winter 2021, LSA Quarterly – review of Capirola CD by Howard Kadis

Software Updates

New versions of my lute software apps are available. I wrote two apps: one helps calculate string diameters and fretting schemes in different meantone temperaments, and the other is for working with lute tablature. Every once in a while, I make a few improvements and update the software for more modern computer requirements. See the software pages for more information.

Articles

A couple of my articles have also been published by the Lute Society of America. In the Journal, Volume LV (2022), my study “Who Was Vidal?” appeared—a detailed examination of the creation of Vincenzo Capirola’s early sixteenth‑century lute book, apparently written by a mysterious and still‑unidentified scribe known as Vidal.

In the Quarterly, Volume LIX (2024), they published my tablature edition of Capirola’s intabulation of Nicolas Craen’s motet Tota Pulchra es Amica Mea. This piece is one of the works I discuss in the Journal article and is also included on my CD devoted to the music of Vincenzo Capirola.

Available here

And, a YouTube video to go with it:

I have just updated a few pages:

• The Recordings  page now lists all of my CDs with Stradivarius and Magnatune on one page
• I have now included a link to the booklet of each CD on the dedicated pages.

Here are a couple of reviews that were written since I last updated my web site:

Recent reviews of Vincenzo Capirola – Il piu bel secreto e arte

“His soft, glitsch-free caress of his gut-strung 6-course lute by Klaus Jacobsen has a compelling clarity, and the easy fluency with which he interprets the phrasing and ornamentation of Capirola’s music entices the untiring ear as the naked man offers a flower to a woman in one of Vidal’s sketches.”

– Rick Jones, Lute News (of the English Lute Society)

“Mr. Beier does a masterful job of making [the ornaments] sound natural, even integral to the musical texture, Of course, this is greatly aided by his fluid, seemingly effortless technique, and his elegant musical sensibility, which is on display throughout.”

– Howard Kadis, Lute Society of America Quarterly

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my site, and in the meantime several new revews were published. In particular, my recent Dowland CD got a glowing review from Howard Kadis for the Lute Society of America Quarterly:

Summer-Fall 2019, Quarterly of the Lute Society of America

And the Bach CD of the French Suites was reviewed in Lauten-Info of the German Lute Society by Marcus Lutz:

Review of J.S.Bach, French Suites in Critica Classica – August 2018

“Il risultato complessivo […] si concretizza in un disco di elevatissimo valore storico-musicale, che fa emergere l’assoluta bravura di Beier come interprete, evidenziando nel contempo la notevole duttilità legata a buona parte della produzione cameristica bachiana.”

Read the entire review

Review of J.S.Bach, French Suites, by Chad Goerzen in the Lute Society of America Quarterly – Fall 2018

“Mr. Beier’s touch is gentle and expressive, giving insights into the emotional aspects of the suites.”

Read the entire review

Review of J.S.Bach, French Suites, by Piero Barbareschi in GothicNetwork, March – April 2018

“Paul Beier, musicista di razza e di grande sensibilità… La struttura frammentata delle suites consente di scoprire con ogni danza atmosfere e stati d’animo differenti: meditativi, sognanti, bucolici, malinconici o danzanti. Quasi ottanta minuti di musica straordinaria, svelata con grande perizia da Beier che ci pone ancora una volta, stupiti e quasi intimoriti, di fronte all’unmensità ed alla bellezza dell’universo bachiano.”

Read the entire review