Purcell - Complete Harpsichord Music (1978) [FLAC] {Robert Woolley}

Purcell - Complete Harpsichord Music - Robert Woolley

This was complete when released but doesn't contain the works discovered in late 1993.

CD1
SUITE No. 8 in F major Z.6691 612
Prelude.Almand.Courante-Minuet
SUITE No. 7 In D minor )Z6681 727
Almand-Corant-Hornpipe
SUITE No. 6 in D major (Z.667) 444
Prelude.Almand.Hornpipe
SUITE No. I in G major (Z.660) 320
Pre] ude-Airnand-Corant-Menuet
SUITE No. 4 In A minor Z.663) 635
Prelude.Almand.Coranle-Saraband Ground In C minor )Z.T.681 337 from Ye Tuneful Muses
SUITE No. 5 In C major IZ.6661 535
Prelude-Al mand-Corant-Saraband
SUITE No. 2 in G minor )Z.661) 927
Prelude-Al mand-Corant.Saraband
SUITE No. 3 in G major lZ.6621 555
Prelude-Almand-Courante
Ground in C minor ZD221) 304

CD2
March IZ 647) • Song Tune Z 1694) • March IZ.648)Song Tune) Z.T6951 • Rigadoon (Z.6531 408
Minuet Z 649) • A New Ground ) Z 1682) from Welcome to all the pleasures • Minuet (Z.650) 417
Suit of Lessons Z,665) Prelude-Almand-Corant-Saraband-lig 535
New Minuet Z T689) • Sefauchis Farewell 0.656) • Minuet ) Z.T.688) from Raise the Voice 408
New Scotch Tune Z.655) • A New irish Tune Lilliburiero) ) Z.646) 34
March )Z T687 lom The Married Beau • Trumpet Tune IZ.T.h981 from The Indian Queen • Chacone Z T6801 from Timon of Athens • Jig
T 686) from Abdelazar • Trumpet Tune, called the Cibell IZ.T678) • Trumpet Tune I Z T 697) from Dioclesian 848 Air ) Z T.696/2) • Ground Z.D.222 from Celebrate the festival • Gavotte Z.D.2 19/I) • Air )Z.T.676) from The Double Dealer 529
Prelude )Z 663) Alternative prelude from Suite No. 41 • Saraband with Division )Z,654) • The Oueen's Dolour 0.670) • Hornpipe )Z 1685) from The Old Batchelor 402
Prelude in G minor IBM MS Add31403) • Air )Z 64)) • Ground in Gamut (Z.6451 • Minuet )Z.65)) • Jig 0 D 223) 712
Air (Z.T693/2) • Round 0 )ZT684) • Hornpipe IZ.T.683) from Abdeiazar 432
Air (Z,630/l) • Air )Z,T,6751 • Canary IZ 1677) from The Indian Queen 358
Gramophone Review….

PURCELL. HARPSICHORD WORKS. Robert Woolley. Saga 5458-9 (two records).
Suites: No. 1 in G major, Z660; No. 2 in G minor, Z661; No. 3 in G major, Z662; No. 4 in A minor, Z663; No. 5 in C major, Z666; No. 6 in D major, Z667; No. 7 in D minor, Z668; No. 8 in F major, 7669. Ground in C minor, ZT681 and ZD221. March, Z647, Z648 ZT687. Song Tune, ZT694, ZT695, Rigadoon, Z653. Minuet, Z649, Z650, Z651, ZT688. A New Ground, ZT682. A Suite of Lessons, Z665. New Minuet, ZT689. Sefauchi's Farewell, Z656. A New Scotch Tune, Z655. A New Irish Tune, Z646. Trumpet Tune, ZT678, ZT697, ZT698, Chacone, ZT680. Jig, ZT686, ZD223. Ground, ZD222. Gavotte, ZD219/ 1. Prelude, Z663. Air, Z630/1, Z641, ZT675, ZT676, ZT693/2, ZT696/2. Saraband with Division, Z654. The Queen's Dolour, Z670. Hornpipe, ZT683, ZT685. Prelude in G minor, BM.MS Add-31403. Ground in Gamut, Z645. Round 0, ZT684. Canary, ZT677.

A hearty "Bravo!" to 24-year-old Robert Woolley on this debut recording. Though the catalogue contains a version of the eight Suites which Purcell's widow published in the year after his death (by Isabelle Nef on L'Oiseau-Lyre .r OLS 149, 11 and of the pieces from Vslsh's Second Part of Musick's Handmaid (by George Malcolm on Oryx 3C301, 4/71), both are in their different ways, unsatisfactory; but besides making good this deficiency, Woolley also includes a number of other pieces not elsewhere recorded—notably a fine Saraband with Division, a Ground in C minor (not the Tuneful Muses one), and a Prelude in C minor from the British Museum which even Zimmerman's catalogue missed (and which, like SQ many of these movements, is all too short). He uses copies of two rare early eighteenth-century English harpsichords by Benjamin Shale (a single-manual instrument) and his one-time apprentice Thomas Hitchcock the younger: both are extremely pleasing to the ear and have been recorded very cleanly, with the absolute minimum of action noise, and at a sensible level.
It is the brevity of Purcell's keyboard pieces that militates against their greater adoption in harpsichord recitals, not the fact that, except for the Suites (which consist of only three or four movements), all but a handful are transcriptions from his theatre and other music—for Some of the latter are outstanding, such as Tire New Ground from the ode Welcome to All the Pleasures (indeed, Purcell's grounds nearly always show him at his best). It is Purcell's rhythmic inventiveness and vitality that give his miniatures immediate appeal, and their rarity in the concert-room makes their appearance here all the more welcome. (One of Purcell's favourite and most interesting rhythmic quirks is his written-out rubatos, where the left hand keeps strict time but the melodic line above it lingers behind the beat— exactly as Chopin also stipulated, in fact, althouh no one plays him that way, and in blues singing.)
The features of Robert Woolley's playing that stand out most are his alertness, rhythmic buoyancy and subtlety of phrasing—the springiness of his Hornpipes in the Sixth and Seventh Suites, his boisterous G minor, Jig and the jaunty Jig in the Suite of Lessons which borrows from the Fifth Suite are all irresistible; but equally praiseworthy are the unfailing crispness of his ornaments and his discreet and stylish added graces. I really have very few reservations about this set: the Timon of Athens "Chacone" could have been rather more flexible, The Queen's Dolour sounds much too chirpy, and the marked slurs in Tire New Ground surely imply Lombard rhythm or at least inégalite'; but otherwise I found this most rewarding listening. L.S.