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Product details :
Composer : William Byrd
Artists : Jean-Luc Ho, harpsichord
Program : My Lady Nevell’s Ground, Sir William Petre Pavan & Gaillard, In Nomine, Walsingham, Susanna Fair, The Queen’s Alman, Fantasia en la, Ut re mi fa sol la, Clarifica me Pater (III), Fantasia en sol, The Maiden’s Song, Pavan en la, Fantasia en ré, Memento salutis auctor
Fantaisie [in D] (BKM 46) | ||
My Lady Nevell's Ground (BKM 57) |
Press round-up :
"Ho captures the spirit of the music in these idiomatic, stylish and rhythmically potent performances. He employs an imaginative range of registrations in the works played on the organ, adding colour and diversity. (...) Ho plays with commitment, resourcefulness, imaginative flair and rhythmic vitality. These are convincing interpretations, and set the bar high." Stephen Greenbank - MusicWeb
"Jean-Luc Ho’s playing is compelling and committed. (...)He successfully seeks out the various mood of the wide variety of pieces, and plays with a nicely relaxed sense of pulse and momentum." Andrew Benson-Wilson - Early Music Reviews
"Ho expresses a cantabile style that is fluid and never mannered. (...) Ho’s registrations are striking and, especially when using the tremblant doux with My Lady Nevell’s Ground played at 4′ pitch, quite beautiful". Paul Cienniwa - The Diapason
Overview :
“How daintily this Byrd his notes doth vary, / As if he were the Nightingalls owne brother!”
Hugh Holland paid tribute to William Byrd, already considered in his own lifetime as the “Father of British Music”The recording features a selection of his keyboard pieces played on the harpsichord and the Renaissance-style organ of Saint-Amant-de-Boixe.
William Byrd is a pivotal composer, linking the Renaissance and baroque styles, and one of the most important representatives of the English school of music for keyboard instruments. He studied with Tallis, was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1572 and Elizabeth I granted him (together with his master) numerous musical privileges starting in 1575. He made a name for himself through his numerous pieces for keyboard which were published in various collections such as My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591), the Weelkes manuscript (circa 1600), the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (circa 1609-circa 1619), Parthenia (1612-13) and Will Forster’s Virginal Book (1624) totalling more than a hundred and forty pieces which make up a key component of English music written for keyboard instruments. In spite of the scale of this contribution and the fact that the quality of his work is recognised today by many musicians, Byrd certainly does not have the place that he deserves in the pantheon of composers.
The programme recorded includes extracts from his various books.