The Virtuoso Organist: Tudor and Jacobean Masterworks

The Virtuoso Organist: Tudor and Jacobean Masterworks

£12.99
Total playing time [68:35]

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Stephen Farr (organ)
The Gentlemen of the Choir of Sidney Sussex College
David Skinner (director)

Acclaimed organist, Stephen Farr returns with an album of organ masterworks from the Tudor and Jacobean era performed on the new Taylor & Boody Organ (Opus 66) of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Installed in 2013, this single manual, mechanical action instrument, features seven stops and was specifically designed to accompany and perform music from the English Renaissance.

Here Farr performs virtuosic works by some of the period's leading composers including William Byrd's Voluntarie for my ladye nevell and John Bull's Coranto Joyeuse. Other composers featured on the album include Thomas Tallis, Thomas Tomkins, John Blitheman and Orlando Gibbons. Farr is also joined by The Gentlemen of the Choir of Sidney Sussex College directed by David Skinner.

Album Booklet (PDF)

Tracklist

William Byrd (c. 1540-1623)
1. A Voluntarie for my ladye nevell

John Bull (1562/3-1628)
2. Galliard

Anonymous
3. Bina caelestis II

John Bull
4. In nomine [II]

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
5. Ecce tempus idoneum

Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
6. Offertory

John Blitheman (1525-1591)
7. Gloria tibi Trinitas [I]
8. Gloria tibi Trinitas [IV]

John Bull
9. Coranto Joyeuse

Anonymous
10. Magnificat

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
11. Fantasia

William Byrd
12. A Fancie

“

'Stephen Farr plays with real empathy in these voluntaries, fantasias, dances, a Magnificat, and settings of In nomine and Gloria tibi Trinitas [...] worth special mention is the large-scale Offertory by Tomkins, played with marvellous intensity [...] Highly recommended.'

- Choir & Organ (5 stars)

'[...] a very broad range of music, ranging from dances to religious compositions. In the latter category, Tomkins’s unusually expansive 1637 Offertory unfolds over almost 18 minutes, providing an almost hypnotic listening experience. Farr’s performance is absolutely assured and free of distracting mannerisms, while the recorded sound of both organ and choir is of the highest standard. Don’t miss this.'
Classical Ear (5 stars)

'Stephen Farr plays with real empathy in these voluntaries, fantasias, dances, a Magnificat, and settings of In nomine and Gloria tibi Trinitas [...] worth special mention is the large-scale Offertory by Tomkins, played with marvellous intensity [...] Highly recommended.'
Choir & Organ (5 stars)

'The musical highlight is Farr’s magnificent performance of Thomas Tomkins’s monumental Offertory [...] Farr’s control of the pulse and build of tension in this remarkable piece is exemplary'
Andrew Benson-Wilson (andrewbensonwilson.org)

'I greatly enjoyed Stephen Farr’s earlier Resonus recording of Bach’s Clavierübung [...] Now he takes us further back in time with this excellent recording of Tudor and Jacobean organ music'
MusicWeb International

Credits
© 2015 Resonus Limited
Ⓟ 2015 Resonus Limited
Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks
EAN: 5060262790472
Cover Image: Instrument detail © Resonus Limited