My Ladye Nevells Booke is a collection of 42 keyboard pieces by William Byrd presented to the titular noblewoman who may have been a student of the composer. The music was for the most part already extant, but Byrd was involved in its selection and compilation, and it is in many ways a fascinating overview of his thinking about the keyboard. Nevertheless, recordings of the full cycle, which runs almost four hours in performance, have been sparse; in addition to the complete Byrd keyboard recording by Davitt Moroney there ...
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My Ladye Nevells Booke is a collection of 42 keyboard pieces by William Byrd presented to the titular noblewoman who may have been a student of the composer. The music was for the most part already extant, but Byrd was involved in its selection and compilation, and it is in many ways a fascinating overview of his thinking about the keyboard. Nevertheless, recordings of the full cycle, which runs almost four hours in performance, have been sparse; in addition to the complete Byrd keyboard recording by Davitt Moroney there has until now been only a set by veteran British harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood. Thus this top-notch version by American harpsichordist Elizabeth Farr is especially welcome. Farr's style is sober and rich, which tends to match the book's contents -- My Ladye Nevells Booke is inclined toward the solid and ambitious pavans, grounds, and fantasies of Byrd, with only the galliards paired with most of the pavans offering a more sprightly mood. (The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book shows a more...
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