The (re)discoverer of the hurdy-gurdy, or vielle.
At about the same time as Italian Riccardo Tesi took the accordion out of mothballs thirty years ago, Frenchman Valentin Clastrier wiped centuries worth of dust off of one of Europe’s oldest music instruments: the vielle. Just about every contemporary player is indebted to Clastrier’s pioneering work. The old master himself is still a part of the vanguard, as can be heard on his new CD, filled with electro-acoustic vielle music that opens new horizons.