Composer: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Performer: Robert Woolley
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN0758
Release: 2009
Size: 392 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Toccata Noni toni, SwWV 297
02. Est-ce Mars, SwWV 321
03. Pavana Lachrimae
04. Almande Gratie, SwWV318 / N7 ‘More Palatino’
05. Toccata C2, SwWV 283
06. Vluchtige nymph, SwWV 331
07. Toccata primi toni, SwWV 286
08. Mein junges Leben hat ein End
09 .Toccata a 3 G2, SwWV 289
10. Pavana Philippi, SwWV 329
11. Toccata Secundi Toni g1 SwWV292 / L21
12. Engelsche Fortuyn
13. Onder een linde groen, SwWV 325
14. Fantasia Chromatica ‘Dorian’
As well as being one of the most famous organists and teachers of his time, Sweelinck was the last and most important composer of the musically rich golden era of the Netherlanders. His output comprises seventy works for keyboard, which represent some of the most richly imaginative music of the period, yet none was published during his lifetime.
Robert Woolley has a large discography on Chandos, both as a soloist and as a member of The Purcell Quartet, the ensemble he co-founded in 1983. An internationally regarded authority on the music of this period, he broadcasts regularly for the BBC and has performed and recorded on many historic instruments. On this recording, he plays two instruments: a modern copy by Malcolm Rose of the Lodewijk Theewes claviorgan of 1579, a harpsichord-organ combination which has belonged to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London since 1890; and a rarely heard virginal, or muselar, by the firm Adlam Burnett, based on an instrument of Ioannes Ruckers from 1611 in the Finchcocks collection.
None of the music in this varied and rewarding programme is well represented in the catalogue.