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Instruments from the Rodger Mirrey Collection
John Kitchen
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Instruments from the Russell Collection Vol II
John Kitchen
DCD34039
Edinburgh University’s Russell Collection is one of the world’s finest collections of early keyboard instruments. The second volume in John Kitchen’s ongoing project to bring its musical exhibits to life matches music by Handel, Purcell, the Scottish composer Robert Bremner and others including Mozart’s son Franz Xaver with a gloriously vigorous menagerie of spinets, virginals, chamber organs, clavichords and harpsichords.
‘a supreme achievement … Every one a gem, as are Kitchen’s stylishly bright performances’
— The Scotsman, March 2006
John Kitchen plays Handel Overtures
DCD34053
Handel’s overtures had an independent life almost from their inception, and the practice of performing them on keyboard instruments has a similarly long pedigree, beginning with a number of transcriptions made by the composer himself. Keyboard specialist John Kitchen virtuosically evokes Handel’s orchestral palette in the welter of timbres and colours which he summons forth from Jacob Kirckman’s 1755 harpsichord, a classic instrument from the very apex of the English harpsichord-building tradition.
‘stylishly played … The music is universally glorious’
— Sunday Times, August 2009
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After completing degrees at Glasgow University, John Kitchen went to Cambridge carrying out research into seventeenthcentury French harpsichord music. Whilst there he was organ scholar of Clare College, and studied the organ with Gillian Weir. From 1976 until 1988 he was Lecturer in Music and University Organist at St. Andrews. He is now Senior Lecturer and University Organist at the University of Edinburgh. For many years John played with the Scottish Early Music Consort as harpsichordist, organist and fortepianist, and is a member of several other ensembles. He gives many solo recitals, both in the UK and overseas. In addition, he is conductor of the Edinburgh University Singers, and organist of Old Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh. In December 2002 he was appointed Edinburgh City Organist, with promotional and curatorial duties attached to the restored 1913 Norman and Beard organ in the city’s Usher Hall. He records regularly for the BBC and has made many
Pages: 18 / 3
commercial recordings. These include the complete keyboard output of the late sixteenth-century Scottish composer, William Kinloch, played on two instruments from the Raymond Russell Collection (ASV CDGAU 134). For Priory Records John has recorded the complete solo organ works of Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780) on six discs, and two discs of Victorian organ sonatas. Recent Delphian releases include a CD of French, English and Dutch Romantic organ music recorded in the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling (DCD34064); a highlyacclaimed recording of the complete organ music of William Russell, played on the 1829 Bishop organ in St James’s, Bermondsey in London (DCD34062, 3 discs); and a CD of Handel overtures and suites played on two of the harpsichords from the worldfamous Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments housed at St Cecilia’s Hall in the University of Edinburgh (DCD34053). In addition to performance and recording work, John is in constant demand as a lecturer and reviewer.
Introduction
In 2005 the University of Edinburgh received the extraordinarily generous gift of 22 historic keyboard instruments from Rodger and Lynne Mirrey, who had built up their priceless collection over several decades. These instruments, some by littleknown makers, have wonderfully enhanced the university’s keyboard collection at St Cecilia’s Hall, not least because they create a perfect complement to those in the Raymond Russell Collection; there is essentially no duplication of models. The Mirrey instruments represent most of the major instrument-making traditions and span approximately 250 years from the earliest to the latest; nine representative instruments are featured in the present
recording. The galleries at St Cecilia’s Hall now house what we can legitimately claim to be the one of the two most comprehensive collections of early keyboard instruments in the world. In recognition of this unique gift, Dr Mirrey was awarded the distinction of University Benefactor by Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, at a special ceremony in St Cecilia’s Hall on 15 March 2006.
John KitchenFor further information on the collection, see www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi
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Instrument listing
Double-manual harpsichord (4478)
Luigi Baillon, Cyteux, 1755
Pages: 4 / 17
Track listing
Louis Couperin (1626–1661) Suite in C major
1 Prélude [02:57]
2 Allemande [02:24]
3 Courante [01:32]
4 Sarabande [pièce croisée] [01:22]
5 Passacaille [05:24]
Triple-fretted clavichord (4486) possibly Flemish, c. 1620
Two Renaissance dances anon. Dutch 16 th century
6 Almande prynce [01:33] anon. early 16 th century
7 Fusi pavana piana [00:45]
Grand pianoforte (4492)
Johann Friedrich Kuhlbörs, Breslau, c.1805
Single-manual harpsichord (4479)
Thomas Barton, London, 1709
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
8 Adagio in G (Hob. XV/22) [05:51]
9 Fantasia in C (Hob. XVII/4) [05:54]
Henry Purcell (1659–1695) Suit of Lessons in C
10 Prelude [00:55]
11 Almond [01:23]
12 Corant [00:53]
13 Saraband [01:13]
14 Jigg [01:07]
John Blow (1649–1708)
15 Mortlack’s Ground [03:10]
Grand pianoforte (4490)
John Broadwood, London, 1793
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Three Songs Without Words
26 in E major (Second book, Op. 30)
27 in C minor (Third book, Op. 38)
28 in A flat major (Third book, Op. 38)
Mendelsohn’s eight books of Songs Without Words, comprising a total of 48 pieces, contain many irresistible gems, and amount to much more than sentimental parlour pieces (a view happily less prevalent than it was). Of the three presented here, that in E major is the simplest, consisting of an expressive melody with short introduction and postlude; the C minor is wistful and slightly mysterious; and the celebrated A flat movement is a soprano and tenor loveduet in which each voice ‘sings’ the melody separately, and then unite in joyous unison.
workshop in the last years of the eighteenth century. It has a compass of five and a half octaves, and is provided with two pedals: one to raise the dampers, and the other for una corda. It is triple-strung throughout the compass and has a separate bridge for the bass strings, a development introduced by Broadwood that was later adopted by many other piano builders. Throughout the nineteenth century, many British owners of Broadwood pianos must have played Mendelssohn Songs Without Words on them.
Recorded on 17 December 2008, 13-14 July 2009 & 7-8
January 2010 in St Cecilia’s Hall, Niddry Street, Edinburgh
Instrument Preparation: John Raymond
Producer & engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing & mastering: Paul Baxter
Photography: Raymond Parks except instruments 4492, 4490 & 4473: Dominic Ibbotson
Photograph editing: Raymond Parks
All images copyright of Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments
Design: John Christ Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk
With thanks to Dr Darryl Martin, Professor Arnold Myers and Eleanor Smith
Dating from the same year as Raymond Russell’s Broadwood harpsichord – the two instruments are placed side by side in St Cecilia’s – this grand pianoforte is typical of the instruments being produced by the
Notes by John Kitchen, with information supplied by Darryl Martin
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Single-manual
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)
25 Toccata decima in F
Pages: 16 / 5
Alessandro Scarlatti is best-known as a prolific composer of Neapolitan opera, and his son Domenico is renowned as a composer of 555 extraordinary keyboard sonatas. However, Alessandro too left a small legacy of keyboard works. Although his Toccate per cembalo (undated, but probably from the early 1720s) have been unfairly dismissed as ‘pupil fodder’, they offer much of interest, as can be heard in this Toccata in F which is really a minisuite of contrasting sections, including some loose fugal writing. The piece ends with an attractive corrente which is rather inexplicably in 4/4 time.
in the year of Alessandro Scarlatti’s death. It bears the signature ‘Franciscus de Paulinis Parochus Diocesis Ariminicus fecit anno Jubilei 1725 etatis suei anno 37’ written on an internal bar. Although elsewhere in Europe the harpsichord compass was being extended, this instrument has the relatively conservative C/E–c’’’ compass still favoured by some Italian builders of the period. Like most Italian harpsichords, it has an attractively bright and forthright tone, ideal for the busy figurations of the Italian toccata (and also perfect for continuo accompaniment, for which such instruments were often used).
Unfretted clavichord (4487) possibly Dresden, c.1740
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616–1667)
16 Lamento sopra la dolora perdita della Real Msta. [05:10]
Di Ferdinando IV, Ré de Romani
J.S. Bach (1685–1750)
Suite in F minor BWV 823
17 Prélude [02:00]
18 Sarabande en rondeau [02:30]
19 Gigue [02:13]
Virginal (4484)
Honofrio Guarracino, Naples, 1678
Single-manual harpsichord (4471)
Bernardinus de Trasuntinis, Venice, 1574
Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710)
20 Alemanda [01:59]
21 Corrente [01:07]
William Byrd (c. 1540–1623)
22 Pavan: Bray [MB XXVIII, 59a, b] [03:39]
23 Galliard [01:31]
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
24 Toccata nona (1637) [05:02]
Single-manual harpsichord (4473)
Franciscus de Paulinis, Rimini, 1725
Grand pianoforte (4490)
John Broadwood, London, 1793
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)
25 Toccata decima in F [05:20]
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Three Songs Without Words
26 in E major (Second book, Op. 30) [02:25]
27 in C minor (Third book, Op. 38) [02:47]
28 in A flat major (Third book, Op. 38) [03:29]
Total playing time [75:48]
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Double-manual
harpsichord (4478)
Luigi Baillon, Cyteux, 1755
Louis Couperin (1626–1661)
Suite in C major
Like his teacher Chambonnières, Louis Couperin left a valuable legacy of harpsichord (and organ) music, but died at the early age of 35 and so never published any; his career spanned only a decade. However, the music circulated in manuscript and was highly regarded. His style is intense, striking, more pungent harmonically and more Italianate than that of his mentor, partly through the influence of Froberger, with whom he was personally acquainted. This group of C major pieces begins with one of his characteristic unbarred preludes which present the player with the pitches and harmonic progressions, but with no note-values; a free, improvisatory style results. The allemande and courante are robust examples of those dance types, and the gentle sarabande is a pièce croisée, requiring the resources of a two-manual
Pages: 6 / 15
William Byrd (c. 1540–1623)
22 Pavan: Bray [MB XXVIII, 59a, b]
23 Galliard
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
harpsichord on which the player uses both (uncoupled) keyboards simultaneously in the same range (Louis’s nephew François le grand was later to use this technique.) Louis’s passacaille uniquely and brilliantly combines the characteristically French form of a repeated rondeau and couplets with the Italianate ground bass. It is a masterpiece, one of the greatest of all French harpsichord works.
Most extant eighteenth-century twomanual French harpsichords are Parisian, but Couperin’s music is here played on a wonderful and unusual example of harpsichord-building from beyond Paris. The maker, Luigi Baillon (presumably of Italian origin), worked in Cyteux in Burgundy, and built the instrument in 1755. This information is found in an inscription under
This splendid pavan and galliard pair, which appears in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book , is a fine example of Byrd’s fastidious keyboard writing. In Joseph Kerman’s memorable (if biased) words, ‘[Byrd] kindled English virginal music from the driest of dry wood to a splendid blaze that crackled on under Bull and Gibbons and even lit some sparks on the Continent’. The name given to this pavan may refer to the Jesuit priest, Father William Bray.
Frescobaldi is recognised as the greatest Italian keyboard player of his time. He spent most of his career in Rome, and worked also in Mantua and Florence, publishing a considerable amount of keyboard music, comprising toccatas, ricercars, canzonas and other such works. This movement comes from the Toccate d’involatura di cimbalo et
organo of 1637 which are to some extent revisions of earlier works. It consists of several contrasting sections, and allows for some interpretative freedom.
The single-manual harpsichord by Trasuntinis is the earliest dated instrument in the university’s collection. Like almost all Italian harpsichords of the period, it has been altered early in its life. However, this alteration has not been at all intrusive, usefully extending the compass while in no way compromising the bright, ringing tonal characteristics. It is an instrument of great character and individuality, and obviously ideal for the music of Frescobaldi. But Italian harpsichords travelled widely in Europe, and are appropriate also for the extensive English virginal repertory.
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Virginal (4484)
Honofrio Guarracino, Naples, 1678
Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710)
Pages: 14 / 7
Almost all of Pasquini’s keyboard music has survived only in manuscript copies, including these two pieces which seem to belong together. The alemanda owes something to contemporary French models, featuring the characteristic style brisé ; the corrente is more typically Italianate, although with a cross-rhythmic feel at cadences.
This fine Neapolitan virginal is signed on the uppermost keylever where it is very precisely dated: 15 May 1678. Its construction is of the integral case design (as distinct from instruments with separate outer cases) favoured by some Italian builders. The cypress case is decorated
with elaborate mouldings, while the legs of the ornate stand are spirally turned with cross stretchers. Little is known about Guarracino, almost all of whose extant instruments are virginals.
the soundboard. It has a very different sound from Parisian instruments, perhaps suggesting that he learned his craft in South Germany: less richly alluring, perhaps, but cleaner and brighter. Although dating from a century after Louis Couperin’s lifetime, its clarity of sound seems to suit his music. The decoration is superb: a carved gilt stand,
typical soundboard ornamentation with flowers and birds, chinoiserie on the case exterior and a fine lid painting showing a mythical scene. Some restoration work was undertaken in the nineteenth century by Louis Tomasini who also worked (in 1882) on the famous 1769 Taskin in the Raymond Russell Collection.
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Triple-fretted clavichord (4486) possibly Flemish, c. 1620
Two Renaissance dances anon. Dutch 16 th century
6 Almande prynce anon. early 16 th century
Pages: 8 / 13
Unfretted clavichord (4487) possibly Dresden, c.1740
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616–1667)
16 Lamento sopra la dolora perdita della Real Msta. Di Ferdinando IV, Ré de Romani
J.S. Bach (1685–1750)
Suite in F minor BWV 823
17 Prélude
18 Sarabande en rondeau
19 Gigue
This tiny instrument is of great historical significance: it is among the oldest ten surviving clavichords of any type; it is the oldest extant triple-fretted clavichord; and it is probably the oldest surviving clavichord made north of the Alps. Its putative date was suggested some years ago the late John Barnes (the first curator of the Russell Collection), since it bears a strong similarity to an illustration in Michael Praetorius’s Syntagma musicum (published 1620); more recently Darryl Martin, the present curator, has suggested that it may be of Flemish origin. Simple Renaissance dances of the sort heard here must frequently have been played domestically on small clavichords for pleasure, or by those learning the intricate art of clavichord playing.
The melancholic Froberger was much given to writing laments, plaints and tombeaux , and this is one of his most dramatic and heartfelt. Its long title informs us that it commemorates the eldest of the Austrian Emperor’s sons, who died at the age of 21 in 1654. In Froberger’s beautifully calligraphed manuscript the rising C major scale with which the piece ends disappears into a cloud surrounded by angels. The music’s expressiveness is particularly well served by the clavichord.
Bach’s little-known suite, apparently incomplete, has come down to us in a manuscript copied by Kellner, one of the most prolific copyists of Bach’s music. The prelude is a rare example (for Bach) of a French-style chaconne, with the characteristic repeated rondeau refrain;
the beautiful sarabande is also wholly French in style, but set in an unusual ABA da capo form. The gigue is jolly enough (if one can be jolly in F minor), but perhaps less striking than the other two movements.
This fine eighteenth-century clavichord is unsigned, but its style of construction indicates that it was made in the region of Saxony, possibly in Dresden. It is unusual in a number of ways: it is unfretted (each note having its own pair of strings) yet the keyboard range is small, just over four octaves; unfretted clavichords generally have a wider range. The case is of painted pine, whereas later Saxon instruments were typically natural wood, or veneered. For these reasons it is likely to date from the period around 1740.
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Single-manual harpsichord (4479)
Thomas Barton, London, 1709
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
Suit of Lessons in C
10 Prelude
11 Almond
12 Corant
13 Saraband
14 Jigg
John Blow (1649–1708)
15 Mortlack’s Ground
These pieces come from the second part of Musick’s Hand-maid, first published in 1689 and revised in 1705. The publication, presumably aimed at the domestic market, consists largely of short movements by Purcell and Blow. The simplicity of the music has sometimes caused it to be undervalued, but the pieces are full of character, and come vigorously to life on an appropriate instrument, such as an English spinet or small harpsichord.
Here they are played on the only surviving harpsichord by Thomas Barton, which is also one of very few extant early eighteenthcentury English harpsichords. Our view of English harpsichords is largely coloured by larger instruments dating from after about 1730 and built by Kirckman and others; it is instructive to hear the rather different,
Pages: 12 / 9
Grand pianoforte (4492)
Johann Friedrich Kuhlbörs, Breslau, c. 1805
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
8 Adagio in G (Hob. XV/22)
9 Fantasia in C (Hob. XVII/4)
‘earlier’ sound of the Barton. It has two sets of 8' strings, and its modest size and unpretentious appearance do not prepare the listener for the extraordinarily rich and characterful sonority which emerges.
The exquisite Adagio in G (1794) seems to be the first version of what subsequently became the second movement of the Piano Trio in E flat major (Hob. XV/22). The manuscript source is in the hand of Johann Elssler, and signed by Haydn himself. By contrast, the Fantasia in C (1789) is a highspirited rondo, full of arresting key-changes and surprising turns of harmony. Of this movement, Haydn himself wrote to the publisher Artaria ‘In a moment of most excellent good humour I have written a quite new Capriccio for the fortepiano…’
The splendid Kuhlbörs fortepiano is ideal for the music of Haydn and built within a decade of these two pieces. It has a Viennese-style action, is typical in most respects to the product as built in Vienna
itself, and is inscribed ‘Ioh. Fried. Kuhlbörs Orgel und Instrumentenmacher in Breslau No. 69’. The compass is five and a third octaves, from FF–a’’’, the instrument being double strung from FF–g, and triple strung above that to the top of the compass. It has a knee lever to lift the damper pedals, and possibly originally (or early on) had a moderator stop which is no longer extant. The piano was restored to playing condition prior to its arrival in Edinburgh.
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Below: Triple-fretted clavichord (4486)
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Below: Virginal, Guarracino (4484)
Below: Unfretted clavichord (4487)
Above:
