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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential., November 26, 2000
This is a welcome reissue of Globe 5030 from 1990. Sweelinck's music for harpsichord is grossly under-represented in the catalog; this is to my knowledge the only readily available all-Sweelinck harpsichord CD. (There was a multi-LP set by Koopman many years ago, but it is gone.) Most other recordings of Sweelinck's keyboard music are on organ. Since most of his compositions are playable on any keyboard, the choice is really up to the performer's taste. I can attest that they are a delight to play on whatever is available: it's wonderfully well crafted music. Anneke Uittenbosch gives outstanding performances here. On the first eight selections she plays a 1989 harpsichord by Joel Katzman, after a Johannes Ruckers design. Her playing is fluent, lyrical, and crisp when needed. And clearly she has studied period fingerings. Terrific all around. In Dowland's "Lachrymae" pavan, arranged (probably) by Sweelinck, she turns to a 1989 virginal by Titus Crijnen, modeled after Couchet. It has a gorgeous sound. This is also the only outright eccentric performance on the CD: her tempo is about half as fast as one would expect for the figurations and the vocal model. But (calling to mind Glenn Gould) she makes it work, and the cumulative effect of this patient delivery is extraordinary. The last four selections are played on a 1977 Metzler organ patterned after an organ in Sweelinck's church (after his death, but no matter). Again, the performances are sensitive: warm and lyrical. I can imagine more forward-moving performances at times, but these also work fine. Uittenbosch seems to focus on the composer's melancholy side for this last half of the disc (virginal and organ)...no complaint from me. So all around, this CD is indispensable as a survey of about 1/5 of Sweelinck's keyboard works. If it's "the only game in town" for harpsichord performances, at least it's a good one.
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