Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Vol.1

Dutch label Brilliant has specialized in low-cost encyclopedic recording cycles, and with this release the label undertakes one of the biggest projects possible in the Renaissance field: a complete recording of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. This English collection contains just short of 300 pieces, of which 35 are included on this release, designated as Vol. 1. The book covers keyboard pieces from the 1560s to the 1610s by a variety of composers. Its origin is obscure; one possible compiler was a Catholic recusant named Francis Tregian the Younger, who was thrown in London's Fleet Prison and thus had a lot of time on his hands. The question of how he might have gathered all the music he copied out remains open; the booklet here presents the most popular theory: that he had the chance to obtain most of it before actually going to prison. The prolific Dutch keyboardist Pieter-Jan Belder, not exactly subtle but powerful, clean, and compelling, finds a good mean between running through the pieces in order and grouping them stolidly by genre, neither of which would be very satisfactory to buyers of individual volumes in the series. He offers works by a variety of composers and in a variety of genres, but includes several pairs of pieces that belong together. These include not only Pavan/Galliard pairs but also examples like the virtuoso variation set Barafostus' Dreame by Thomas Tomkins (CD 2, track 15) and an anonymous simplification of it (CD 2, track 11). The former track is a good one to sample for a taste of Belder's muscular approach. Playing copies of Dutch and Italian harpsichords of the period, he gets a big sound and isn't afraid to tweak the tempo a bit in promoting a sense of excitement and keyboard flash. The bottom line: although the primary clientele for this big series may be libraries and other reference collections, this two-disc set can also be enjoyed by anyone who likes early keyboard music.