John Toll - The Woods So Wild (2001)

Tracklist

01. Prelude, MB 2
02. Fantasia, MB 13
03. The Woods so Wild, MB 29
04. Fantasia, MB 5
05. Fantasia, MB 9
06. Pavan a 5, MB 16
07. Galliard, MB 23
08. Coranto, MB 39
09. Short Prelude, MB 4
10. Fantasia, MB 10
11. Pavan, MB 17
12. Ground, MB 26
13. Fantasia, MB 11
14. Fantasia, MB 12
15. Pavan: Lord Salisbury, MB 18
16. Galliard: Lord Salisbury, MB 19
17. Fantasia, MB 6
18. Fantasia, MB 8
19. Prelude, MB 1
20. Mask: The Fairest Nymph, MB 43
21. Fantasia, MB 14
22. The Italian Ground, MB 27
23. Short Prelude, MB 3
24. Fantasia for Double Organ, MB 7



John Toll performs a beautiful disc of Orlando Gibbons' keyboard music which Classics Today awarded its top rating of 10/10.

The well-chosen repertoire includes pieces performed on a single-manual Ruckers harpsichord interspersed with those played on Adlington Hall's restored two-manual 17th-century organ. A great keyboard virtuoso, Gibbons was also a fine composer of the Elizabethan 'golden age'. Gibbons' writing displays a balance of phrasing and a fine sense of texture; the 24 pieces on this recording have been selected as illustrative of the core of this repertoire.

The Fantasias are the most remarkable group of pieces, and are the ones where Gibbons best displays his contrapuntal skills, displaying techniques that clearly influenced the next generation of composers. Highlights include the title track, the Lord Salisbury Pavan and Galliard, and the famous Fantasia for Double Organ.

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