# Calling Elizabethan keyboard music fans:



## clavichorder

What are you favorite recordings? I'm interested in delving deeper than I have. Right now, I have Edward Parmentier's CD, http://www.allmusic.com/album/musick-as-befitts-a-quene-mw0001363557 and Pieter Jan Belder's Volume 1 CD's 1 and 2 of the Fitzwilliam Virginal book.

Some tracks on these have really become dear to me. I've been really impressed with works by John Bull, William Byrd, Peter Phillips, and Orlando Gibbons.

I am not a big fan of Gould's piano performances of these kind of works. But I do think there is potential for these on the piano and wonder why they are so under recorded on the instrument.


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## clavichorder

Also, I'm interested in discussing with people the differences in the different composers for this time period and the virginal/harpsichord. I find Gibbons solid and contrapuntally intense but sometime a bit square. I find Byrd to have the most interesting musical phrases. Bull seems to me to have the most impressive 'building' skills throughout a piece to the end, and I always love to hear the virtuosity that ensues at the end of one of his slightly more sizable pieces.


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## Winterreisender

It's not a repertoire I know extensively, but I do enjoy this box set of Byrd's Keyboard music played by Davitt Moroney.







I find the range of pieces hugely varied. Some are wonderfully tuneful dances, others contain more complex contrapuntal structures, others resemble melancholic chorales. Moroney uses a nice range of instruments, which also keeps things interesting!


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## tdc

I was introduced to the works of Bull through the classical music project, and he is a composer that just clicked with me right away. I love his compositional style. His keyboard works strike me as well composed, ambitious and ahead of their time. I really like the interpretations of Bob van Asperen.


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## Ingélou

I only know bits & pieces, but through this thread, I hope to find out more. Byrd is king for me at the moment, but Bull is heir apparent.


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## Mandryka

I think you will enjoy Pierre Hantai's Bull CD, and maybe also his CD of Farnaby's music. For Byrd three recordings come to mind as real special: Leonhardt's solo harpsichord recordings, and Moroney's Pavans and Galliards from the big box (I haven't heard his earlier CD) and Aapo Häkkinen's wonderful CD. Jury's still out as far as I'm concerned on Glen Wilson's recording of Fantasias - the music's quite challenging I think, though each time I listen to Wilson's CD I am more and more impressed. Fantasias need to have a spontanious random dream like feel - Häkkinen is good at this. 

Others - well there's the Belder, and a wonderful Byrd organ recital by Leon Berben. And a lovely CD called Peascodd Time by Bertrand Cuiller with Byrd and Gibbons (I'd like to know more about Gibbons.) And there are some nice elizabethan transcriptions for keyboard of Dowland's Lachrimae. Gould is well worth catching for sure if you can tolerate modern pianos. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. If you are just going to get one for each composer, get Hantai's Bull and Hakkinen or Leonhardt's Byrd.


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## clavichorder

Daniel-Ben Pienaar does the complete works of Orlando Gibbons on the modern piano! I am investigating. I already have John Toll's Gibbons for harpsichord.


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## clavichorder

I loved this piece by Giles Farnaby for a while, and this recording sounds very much like a virginal! A very knightly tune...


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Daniel-Ben Pienaar does the complete works of Orlando Gibbons on the modern piano! I am investigating. I already have John Toll's Gibbons for harpsichord.


I never much enjoyed that Pienaar CD, though maybe I didn't pay enough attention to what he's doing. Someday soon I'll revisit it. Anther modern piano CD, Bull this time, is by Alan Feinberg, called Basically Bull.

The elizabethan music scene was pretty international and I believe the major composer in terms of influence for all these British guys is Sweelinck. Anyway, if you're enjoying the music and you haven't heard much Sweelinck, you're in for a treat. At least, I like Sweelinck both on organ and harpsichord.


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## clavichorder

Hmmm, I had dismissed Sweelinck in the past, but I just came across this youtube link 



. I think I like it!


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Hmmm, I had dismissed Sweelinck in the past, but I just came across this youtube link
> 
> 
> 
> . I think I like it!


I agree that what Koopman does with Sweelinck is interesting. Try also Gustav Leonhardt, Glen Wilson and Harald Vogel. I wonder if anyone here would comment on Noelle Spieth's Sweelinck CD, which I've never heard.


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## science

clavichorder said:


> What are you favorite recordings? I'm interested in delving deeper than I have. Right now, I have Edward Parmentier's CD, http://www.allmusic.com/album/musick-as-befitts-a-quene-mw0001363557 and Pieter Jan Belder's Volume 1 CD's 1 and 2 of the Fitzwilliam Virginal book.
> 
> Some tracks on these have really become dear to me. I've been really impressed with works by John Bull, William Byrd, Peter Phillips, and Orlando Gibbons.
> 
> I am not a big fan of Gould's piano performances of these kind of works. But I do think there is potential for these on the piano and wonder why they are so under recorded on the instrument.


I got that Byrd recording by Cuiler that you played a bit of once for me on tiny chat. You remember that? Anyway, very nice, very interesting, very good stuff! Thank you!

I'll now explore this thread!


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## Guest

Winterreisender said:


> It's not a repertoire I know extensively, but I do enjoy this box set of Byrd's Keyboard music played by Davitt Moroney.
> View attachment 33236
> 
> I find the range of pieces hugely varied. Some are wonderfully tuneful dances, others contain more complex contrapuntal structures, others resemble melancholic chorales. Moroney uses a nice range of instruments, which also keeps things interesting!


I agree--that is a superb recording. So is this one:


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## Mandryka

Yes I like that Cuiller CD, especially the pieces by Philips.

I'll just mention that Glen Wilson released a really successful, very entertaining, recording of music by Ferdinando Richardson last year, which I only just discovered. It's one of Wilson's best, in the same league as his Farnaby, Sweelinck and Andrea Gabrieli. 

One thing that impressed me a lot on Kenneth Weiss's recording of music from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is Thomas Tomkins's piece called Barafostus's Dream. I would like to know more about Thomas Tomkins.

More generally I've been really enjoying Egarr's recording of the Purcell Suites - honestly, he seems to me to sweep the field of all competition. He makes those suites sound like great music to me - I'm not sure anyone else does, at least noone playing in a HIP way (I say thay because I found a strange but interesting recording on spotify by someone called Raymmond Touyère (who he?) which makes them sound almost psychedlic to me - like Isoir makes Art of Fugue sound psychedelic. Colourful, fast, intense. But not as great as Egarr here.)

And I've also been dabbling into Orlando Gibbons's keyboard music a bit, because I was so impressed by Ben Pienaar's CD. Any suggestions for HIP and PI?


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## Taggart

Tomkins  1572 -1656 was a Welshman best known as a madrigalist. His dad was the organist at St Davids in Pembrokeshire and all the family were musical. He worked at the Chapel Royal under Gibbons. We really need a guest book on him.


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## clavichorder

Manryka:

John Toll does a CD of Orlando Gibbons on a mixture of harpsichord and organ. I think he does a decent job. And I do love that Ben Pienaar CD!


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Manryka:
> 
> John Toll does a CD of Orlando Gibbons on a mixture of harpsichord and organ. I think he does a decent job. And I do love that Ben Pienaar CD!


I haven't heard Toll, I shall order it, but I have heard Egarr and Johnstone and Hogwood. Egarr's proving to be the one that's the most demanding (it's not forthright and it's not seductive through colours, instruments) but, when you do pay attention closely, Egarr's very deep expressively -- the music is shown to be poetic in a way that just seems to elude the others.

I'm getting very serious about Egarr -- his his Purcell keyboard suites are peerless as far as I know, and his Louis Couperin is up there with the best like Spieth. Even in this early Orlando Gibbons CD he shows himself to be a musician with ideas and imagination.


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