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There could hardly be a more fitting celebration of the Byrd anniversary than a complete recording of My Ladye Nevells Booke. Pieter-Jan Belder has already committed to disc a complete account of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (15 CDs’ worth!). The remainder of Byrd’s keyboard music is promised in due course, but it’s logical to begin here, the single most important source after Fitzwilliam, and generally more reliable.
Belder plays mostly copies of Ruckers instruments (and one original) including a lovely muselar, perhaps the easiest of them to live with over a sustained spell. He follows the manuscript order exactly, unlike Davitt Moroney, who disperses its contents throughout his complete survey while mostly focusing its contents on one or two discs. Moroney is the obvious comparator, and despite much listening I struggle to prefer one to the other. Moroney is inclined to be freer with his tempos and phrasing (in a word, he swings more). Belder is typically more straitlaced though not over-fastidious. Sometimes his tendency to clip phrases can be distracting (try the Galliard to the Second Pavan) where Moroney opts for more sostenuto lines. I prefer Moroney in the pavans and galliards, the meatiest set of related pieces in the collection, though Belder is more relaxed in the superb ‘Kinbrugh Good’ pair; but in the grounds, fantasias and voluntaries I find them both insightful and instructive. The climax of ‘Have with you to Walsingham’ shows off Belder’s ornamentation, controlled but exuberant at its best, and ‘The Battle’ (a silly piece on the page) communicates as well as it would in a live performance, though the din of Moroney’s muselar adds a little extra.
The sound recording is less grateful than on Moroney’s set (the closeness can be overpowering, unless you prefer harpsichords this way), though one would hardly choose to take in the set at a sitting. As a stand-alone introduction to Byrd the keyboard composer this is hard to fault, and those who already own the complete set with Moroney will find Belder a distinctive alternative. |
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