This is volume 4 of Richard Lester's recording for Nimbus of
the complete keyboard works of Girolamo Frescobaldi. Volume
3 was released in early 2011, and reviewed here,
with a second opinion here,
the latter also providing other links of relevance.
Half of the pieces in Lester's programme are drawn from the
Second Book of Toccate, Canzone (Rome, 1627/1637), the rest
from other publications during Frescobaldi's lifetime, except
track 4, which comes straight from manuscript. All works are
played on the 1588 organ in San Salvatore, Italy, apart from
the final two, which - somewhat incongruously - revert to harpsichord,
though again an authentic instrument from 1619. More information
about the instruments played by Lester during this series is
available on the official series site here.
Lester has received considerable acclaim for his recent mammoth
seven-volume Complete Scarlatti Sonatas, also on Nimbus. With
this series Lester, with his consummate musicianship and carefully
considered interpretations, adduces further evidence to the
thesis that Frescobaldi is a key figure in the history of music,
not only for the fact that he was one of the very first to focus
his talents on instrumental music, but also as one of the greatest
keyboard composers of the early 1600s, beginning with his watershed
First Book of Toccatas of 1616, and expatiated in the Second
Book, as he broke with tradition to create a new quasi-improvisatory,
expressive style of playing, full of harmonic extravagances,
rhythmic flexibility, experimental techniques and technical
challenges.
This CD offers a first chance in Lester's series to hear Frescobaldi
the "miraculous organist." The instrument used for
this recording was built by Costanzo Antegnati in the late 16th
century at the church of St Nicola near Almenno in northern
Italy, and very likely played by Frescobaldi himself. Though
the organ itself is a little rough around the edges, Frescobaldi's
music for it is riveting, often astoundingly modern in its harmonics.
Though these works are still clearly devotional in the main,
audiences must have been startled by some of the chords and
sequences; yet his amazing popularity as an organist indicates
that this new style and sound was quickly accepted by contemporaries
and benefactors alike.
The accompanying booklet contains fascinating notes of a different
kind by Lester, with sections on historical context, the pieces
themselves, the instrument and period technique. Again, recording
details - other than that Raymond Fenton did the business -
have disappointingly been left out. The booklet describes this
disc in fact as a 'compilation', with the recordings being licensed
from Privilège Accord. Sound quality is fairly good, although
there is still just a little background hiss in evidence at
the beginnings and ends of tracks, and the organ recordings
have a slight 'underwater' quality to them.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Richard Lester (organ, *harpsichord) 
