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Reviewer: Bertil
van Boer This is the second set of two discs by Flemish harpsichordist Pieter-Jan Belder devoted to the musicologically-seminal Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. This manuscript of over 300 works for keyboard is about as close to a thorough compendium of music for whatever instrument with keys one might have from the Elizabethan period of England and earlier. Of course, the title implies their intent for performance on the virginal, a sort of small spinet harpsichord favored during her reign, but there is no reason not to perform them on another instrument, as here. In any case, this tome has often been mined for recordings. It appears to have been complied around 1619 or perhaps several years earlier, ostensibly by Frances Tregian, Jr., who was serving time for refusing to attend Anglican services, known as the crime of recusancy. Exactly why this happened is a subject of debate. Perhaps it had something to do with the recalcitrance of the family regarding matters of faith; his father, Frances Sr., was put in jail for harboring a fugitive and upon his release in 1606 went to live among the enemies of Queen Elizabeth in Spain. His son, bereft of the family lands, returned that year to try and reclaim his heritage but was thrown into jail after awhile as well. His incarceration, however, seems to have been much more lenient, for he apparently was allowed furloughs during which he collected a huge library. Moreover, his accommodations, while Spartan, were hardly the dank cells of the dungeon, for the inventory upon his death lists his prison home as a chamber. In any case, how he collected and compiled such an enormous compendium of music, and even his authorship, is still somewhat controversial. This disc set includes the music found therein from just across the channel in the Netherlands. Peter Philips (1560–1628) was English by birth, but he spent most of his career in Antwerp, where he was a rather sought-after teacher. He did visit the Netherlands in 1593, and he even spent time, à la Tregian, in a Dutch jail for a trumped-up charge of conspiracy against Elizabeth I. He was acquitted and eventually took holy orders. Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck, of course, needs no introduction, as he was the premiere organist in the Netherlands during his lifetime. Students from all across northern Europe came to study with him, and his keyboard fantasias and toccatas were imitated long after his death in 1621. Indeed, he was the progenitor of the German Organ School, and without his work it is possible that Johann Sebastian Bach would never have built it up to its climax a century later. The fact that four of his works made it into the Fitzwilliam points out that his fame was international beyond German and Dutch-speaking lands even during this period. Of course, the works contained herein, two fantasies and two toccatas, have been often recorded before; still, the beauty and skill to weave as intricate a work as the Hexachord Fantasy indicates that the English recipients of the book were awed by his inventiveness as a composer. Philips is much more eclectic in his work, which ranges from some rather extensive ostinato variations, such as the 1592 Passamezzo Pavana with its mournful theme and complex set of variations, to simple paraphrases of the latest favorite tunes of progressive composers such as Orlandus Lassus and Giulio Caccini. One of my favorites of the latter is the Nightingale paraphrase, which takes a piece by Lassus and turns it into a work of virtuoso display with imitative entrances and ornamented lines. Belder’s attempt to record most or all of the book is one of those projects that has long needed to be done. His playing is both skillful and nicely detailed. Each line is clear and unambiguous, so that the inner workings of the often complex works shines forth. In my opinion, this (and its companion volumes) will turn out to be the model against which all other recordings of the Fitzwilliam will be matched. This is a seminal and monumental work of the age, and thus can be considered a keystone of any collection of keyboard music. | |
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