belongs to the greats of music history. With his genius he brought the European Renaissance to British cathedrals. Although a Catholic, he was one of the first founders of Anglican church music. His virginal music contributed to the heyday of British keyboard music from the time of Elizabeth I. Keyboard music was still in its infancy at the time. She emancipated herself through dexterity, dance and
… programmatic fantasies. This CD contains quite a few of those stylized dances, often grouped together as a static pavane in front of a smoother gaillarde. A popular example of a programmatic fantasy is The Bells. Byrd only needed two notes in the left hand to imitate the sound of bells. In the right hand, those basic two notes are supplemented with all kinds of counter-melodies and wraps. plays these works on a Venetian harpsichord from the later 16th century and a virginal by Joanes Ruckers from 1604. (HJ)more
