Many first recordings of toccatas, canzonas, correntes and much more by the Italian keyboard master whose free, declamatory style and mastery of keyboard technique set him apart from his contemporaries in 17th-century Italy and made him a prime influence on J.S. Bach.
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) was the organist at St. Peter's in Rome for a good part of his life. His music is important for historical reasons but, more than that, it has a special quality of gentle gravity beneath the lively rhythms and sudden shifts of harmony. The greater part of Frescobaldi’s output was written for keyboard instruments – unusually for the time – and Roberto Loreggian has already established himself as the leading current exponent of this music by recording a complete set of the published works for Brilliant Classics (15CDs, 94111).
A decade on from the release of this much praised, definitive edition, Loreggian has returned to Frescobaldi and gathered up many much less well-known pieces to be found in manuscript collections across Europe. In some cases these are alternative or earlier versions of published works. One hallmark of the Frescobaldi style is its restlessness, or appetite for change which speaks to our age even more than his own. Even within the established form of a given genre such as a toccata, Frescobaldi bends and stretches the rhetoric, leaps forward in harmony and holds back the phrase with a sophistication worthy of ancient rhetoricians such as Cicero.
It follows naturally that these pieces were created in a method of continual transformation. While following the course of his compositional style invites the listener on a journey of more than academic interest, the appeal of this set resides no less in the sheer fertility of invention on offer. Frescobaldi always encouraged his performers to play with spontaneous freedom, a kind of liberated intensity, which requires complete immersion in the style and the world of this music to pull off successfully.
Roberto Loreggian has taken a no less imaginative approach to his choice of instruments for this substantial projects, especially in the choice of organs. CDs 1 and 4 are recorded on a 1998 Zanin organ built for the Chiesa di S.Caterina, in Treviso; CDs 3 and 6 on a well preserved but spicily mean-toned instrument from 1565 in the Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara at Mantova. These are both large instruments, affording formidable weight as well as the high, bright stops which predominate in the registration of this music. The set is an essential acquisition for anyone with more than a passing interest in early keyboard music.
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583- 1643) was one of the most important and influential composers for the keyboard in the early 17th century. He embraced the late renaissance style in his early output, and by the end of his life had contributed some of the most impressive and influential works to the early Italian baroque.
The son of an organist, he was born in the northern city of Ferrara into a wealthy family. His employer, the Duke Alfonso II d’Este was obsessed with music, and spent several hours a day listening, spending considerable financial resources into music making at court. Young Frescobaldi obviously thrived in this environment for he soon took up employment for the Duke of Mantua, and later became organist to the Medici in Florence from 1628-34. He then went even further by moving to Rome to work for the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII. In this elite society he mingled with such names as Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona.
Although Frescobaldi was influenced by numerous earlier composers such as the Neapolitans Ascanio Mayone and Giovanni Maria Trabaci and the Venetian Claudio Merulo, his music represents much more than a summary of its influences. Aside from his masterful treatment of traditional forms, Frescobaldi is important for his numerous innovations, particularly in the field of tempo: unlike his predecessors, he would include in his pieces sections in contrasting tempi, and some of his publications include a lengthy preface detailing tempo-related aspects of performance.
This new recording presents the complete unpublished works for harpsichord and organ, a collection of Toccatas, Canzonas, Correntes, Sonatas and Ricercares.
With this release Roberto Loreggian completes his Frescobaldi odyssey, his recording of the published keyboard works on Brilliant Classics having received glowing reviews in the international press.
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per organo, F 14.02.01
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona che segue alla toccata, F 14.02.02
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per organo, F 14.03
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Capriccio fatto sopra il cuccù, F 14.05
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per organo con pedali, F 14.06.01
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon dopo la toccata, F 14.06.02
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per organo, F 14.08
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 14.09
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare, F 14.10
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare cromatico, F 14.11
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata sopra li pedali. Fuga, F 14.27
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ruggiero, F 14.28
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Recercare, F 14.29
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 14.32
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Balletto primo, F 2.21
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente del balletto, F 2.22
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Passacagli, F 2.23
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Balletto secondo, F 2.24
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente del balletto, F 2.25
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Passacagli, F 2.29
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Recercare, F 14.30
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 14.31
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Recercare, F 14.33
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 14.34
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.36
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Aria di fiorenza, F 14.38
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Recercare, F 14.39
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 14.43
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.45
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Aria detta balletto, F 14.46
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ciaccona, F 14.47
Disk 2
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Partite sopra l’aria di Fiorenza, F 14.01
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Capriccio, F 14.04
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata prima, F 14.12
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata seconda, F 14.13
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata terza, F 14.14
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 15.51
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata. Canzona, F 15.52
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 15.53
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 15.54
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 15.55
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Passacagli, F 14.49
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Balletto, F 14.61
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 14.62
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 14.72
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Gagliarda del Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Gagliarda
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata del signor Girolamo Frescobaldi, F 14.73
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente del Sig.r Ger FB, F 14.74
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente I
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente II
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente III
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente IV
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon francese del terzo tono
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ruggieri, F 13.12
Girolamo Frescobaldi: La Monica, F 13.13
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata/ Corrente/ Aria detta Balletto/ Monica/ Corrente/ Allamana/ Balletto/ Alio modo/ Sarabanda/ Aria detta la Frescatanna/ Toccata/ Corrente/ Toccata/ Toccata a mò della Romanesca, F 13.15-29
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Onesta/ Corrente e Folia/Corrente/ L’Aria del Gran Duca del Frescobaldi/Corrente/ Corrente
Disk 3
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.26
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon prima, F 14.15
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon seconda, F 14.16
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon terza, F 14.17
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon quarta, F 14.18
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon quinta, F 14.19
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon sesta, F 14.20
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon settima, F 14.21
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon ottava, F 14.22
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon nona, F 14.23
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima, F 14.24
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon undecimal, F 14.25
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fantasia, F 14.56
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare, F 14.57
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.58
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Primo Verso per la gloria de santi doppi
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Kyrie
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.60
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 13.01
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 13.02
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare, F 13.03
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per l’elevatione, F 13.04
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare, F 13.05
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 13.06
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 13.07
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 13.08
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ricercare canzona, F 13.09
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 13.10
Disk 4
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente I di G.F., F 15.13
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente II di G.F., F 15.14
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente III
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente IV di G.F., F 15.15
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente V
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente VI
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Sonata prima, F 15.60
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Sonata seconda, F 15.61
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona Frescobaldi, F 15.41
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata primi toni Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fuga primi toni Frescobaldi, F 15.43
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon secundi toni Frescobaldi, F 15.44a
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata secundi toni Caspar Kerl
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata di Frescobaldi, F 14.70
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ruggiero
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Aria di Fiorenza
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon prima di Frescobaldi, F 16.51
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon seconda, F 16.52
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima, F 16.60
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima terza, F 16.62
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima quinta, F 16.63
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima sesta, F 16.64
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima settima, F 16.65
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon decima ottava, F 16.66
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Prima toccata
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Seconda toccata
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Terza toccata o di canzone
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Quarta toccata piva
Disk 5
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata I del sig.r Frescobaldi, F 15.03
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata II del Frescobaldi, F 15.04a
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata III del sig.r Frescobaldi, F 15.05
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata IV F.Baldi, F 15.06
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata V del sig.e Frescobaldi, F 15.07
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata VI F.Baldi, F 15.08
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata VII di Frescobaldi, F 15.09
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata VIII del Sig.r Frescobaldi, F 15.10
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Partite sopra un aria romana detta la manista, F 15.30.01-06
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Rugier del Sr Frescobaldi, F 14.64
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 15.16b
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 14.71
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata, F 14.59
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Capriccio, F 15.17
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Capriccio di G.F., F 15.18
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon di Girolamo Frescobaldi, F 15.19
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Verso, F 15.20
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzon
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente, F 15.59
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente d’Hercole Pasquini, F 15.16c
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Folias
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente del sig Girolamo, F 15.16a
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Romanesca
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Aria di Ruggiero
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Romanesca del Frescobaldi, F 15.02
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Ruggiero
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente del Frescobaldi, F 15.01
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Capriccio del signor Girolamo Frescobaldi, F 15.26.01/02
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fantasie du seig.r Hierosme Frescobaldi, F 15.28
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata di roma sexti toni, F 15.50
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Corrente Frescobaldi
Disk 6
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata per l’organo col contrabasso overo pedale di Frescobaldi, F 15.11
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Toccata tertii toni, F 15.04b
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 15.33
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fuga fresgobalti, F 15.35a
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona Frescobaldi, F 15.36
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 15.37
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Canzona, F 15.40
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Fuga Frescobaldi Gu Gu, F 15.42a
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Hinno per le domeniche di tutto l’anno, F 14.65
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Hinno della pentecoste, F 14.66
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Hinno delli apostoli, F 14.67