Sweelinck - Keyboard Works Volume 2 - Chandos: CHAN0758 - download

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What a fine composer Sweelinck was! This volume drives the point home by presenting several of his best compositions, including the imaginatively patterned variations on Esce mars and Unterder... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 2nd Mar 2009
Catalogue No: CHAN0758
Label: Chandos
Series: Chaconne
Length: 63 minutes

Sweelinck: Toccata Noni Toni, SwWV 297

Work length5:19

$1.05

$1.30

Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Esce mars, SwWV 321

Work length4:33

$1.05

$1.30

Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Paduana Lachrymae, SwWV 328

Work length5:20

$1.05

$1.30

Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Allemand Gratie, SwWV 318, "More Palatino"

Work length3:52

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Toccata C2, SwWV 283

Work length3:28

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Vluchtige nymph, SwWV 331

Work length2:08

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Toccata Primi Toni, SwWV 286

Work length3:55

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Mein junges Leben hat ein Endt, SwWV 324

Work length6:24

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Toccata a 3 G2, SwWV 289

Work length2:17

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Pavan Philippi, SwWV 329

Work length7:02

$1.60

$1.95

Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Toccata Secundi Toni g1 SwWV292 / L21

Work length2:38

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Engelse Fortuijn, SwWV 320

Work length3:12

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Onder een linde groen, SwWV 325

Work length5:21

$1.05

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Robert Woolley

Sweelinck: Fantasia Crommatica in Dorian Mode, SwWV 258

Work length8:04

$1.60

$1.95

Robert Woolley

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About

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.

Reviews

2010

What a fine composer Sweelinck was! This volume drives the point home by presenting several of his best compositions, including the imaginatively patterned variations on Esce mars and Unterder Linden grune, the weighty and implacable Fantasia crommatica (how Bach would surely have admired this piece) and the hauntingly beautiful variations on Mein junges Leben hat ein Endt.
Other works here include a take on Peter Philips's Pavana dolorosa, a lovingly plumped-up version of Dowland's Lachrymae, and a handful of improvisatory toccatas. Sweelinck brings together in his music many of the influences current in the first years of the 17th century – Italian flair, north European seriousness, English resonance and melodic grace – and makes of them a rich and rewarding brew, maintaining coherence by the force of his own good taste and sound compositional judgement.
Robert Woolley switches between two marvellous harpsichords – Malcolm Rose's currently much-in-demand copy of the Victoria and Albert Museum's 1579 Theewes claviorganum, and a deep and mellow copy by Derek Adlam of a 1611 Ruckers virginals. His playing, too, covers most bases. Without forcing the pace, he shows brilliant fingerwork in Esce mars or a piece like the Toccata C2, and achieves clarity and composure in the more melodically driven works. The toccatas occupy a convincing middle ground between the improvisatory and the written- out in feel, and tempi are for the most part expertly judged. In other words, these are pleasingly natural performances. There is not much competition in the world of Sweelinck recordings, but this stands out as an excellent harpsichord release in its own right.

June 2009

A rich, rewarding brew of imaginative harpsichord music, expertly played. …these are pleasingly natural performances. There is not much competition in the world of Sweelinck recordings, but this stands out as an excellent harpsichord release in its own right.

Sweelinck - Keyboard Works Volume 2

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