The late-Renaissance keyboard music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is virtuosic to a high degree, reflecting both his exceptional skills as an improviser and the secular role organ music was assigned in Reformed Amsterdam. Without a liturgical function to constrain his imagination or shape his music – Calvinist services had no place for it – Sweelinck was free to provide fanciful showpieces for his daily recitals in the Oude Kerk. Examples of his improvisational style can be found in the quasi-fugal Hexachord Fantasia, the witty Echo Fantasia, and the flamboyant Toccatas, of which three are included here. Yet Sweelinck's music is also rigorously logical and full of ingenious contrapuntal devices. These are readily found in his fantasias, but are prominently featured in his numerous sets of variations. His elaborate settings of the chorales Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr and Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, and his variations on popular melodies, such as the famous Mein junges Leben hat ein End, display his invention and thorough manipulation of his subjects in all registers. Perhaps better known as a harpsichordist, Robert Woolley is also a fine organist. Woolley has selected representative works from each of Sweelinck's favored genres and given them exceptional performances on the Van Hagerbeer organ of the Pieterskerk, Leiden.

The fifth volume of the Alessandro Scarlatti complete works for keyboard series. On this new release we enjoy the small Carlo Serassi op.442 organ (“Organino”) of 1836, today located in the basilica of S. Maria di Campagna, in Piacenza, after being placed in 1859 in the Municipal Theatre in the same city. This unique instrument, originally “Organo da Sala in Casa Serassi”, is perfectly suited to the Toccatas, Sonatas and Follias from the great master from Palermo.

This disc is intended to introduce a collection of keyboard instruments in Edinburgh, Scotland, but actually it accomplishes much more. The instruments featured here were built all over Europe, with the majority from the British Isles or France. They date from between 1586 and 1810, with the first example being an Italian virginal and the final one a fortepiano. Along the way come harpsichords of various kinds, a clavichord, and a small organ. Brief but relevant and engaging histories are given for each instrument.

To celebrate the 350 anniversary of the birth of Alessandro Scarlatti, Alexander Weimann continues his project of recording the complete keyboard works of this great Italian baroque composer. This oeuvre comprises some 30 toccatas and variations, the scores of which are conserved in the collections of European and American libraries. Some of these works have never been recorded before.

2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of the harpsichordist and organist Scott Ross, who was just 38 years old when he died. This box brings together the harpsichord recordings he made for EMI and Erato, which are complemented by a selection of radio recordings: harpsichord and organ from Radio Canada, and harpsichord music from RTS (Swizerland) and INA (France). The lasts include a duet with his former teacher Huguette Grémy-Chauliac and chamber music with Christophe Coin and his Ensemble Mosaïque.

Friedrich Lux (1820–95) was one of those musicians who formed the fabric of musical life in nineteenth-century Germany: though he worked away from the major cities, as conductor, teacher, organist, organiser and composer, he was an indispensable element of the communities in which he worked. His large body of organ music, as good as unknown before now, brings together elements of the musical language of Bach, Mendelssohn and Schumann, in works that range from the intimate to the grandiose.This second volume brings some of his many transcriptions to the fore.

Part of Capriccio’s “Famous European Organs” series, this CD presents music from the Baroque and Classic periods, played with flair and sensitivity on the Riepp organs of the Benedictine abbey of Ottobeuren. These are modest instruments, yet capable of making quite a formidable sound when the right stops are pulled, as in the raucous Battaglia by Johann Kerll. Most listeners, however, will be more enchanted with the many dulcet sound combinations exhibited here. Consider the lovely flutes at the beginning of Haydn’s Aus der Flötenuhr or the charming combination of Copel 8′ coupled with Doublet 2′ in the opening movement of the Franz Schnizer Sonate.

Tik Tok organ sensation Anna Lapwood marks an exciting chapter in her career with the album 'Luna'. An record that represents a stunning, rounded reflection of her highly impressive career to date, 'Luna' is a fifteen-song collection of traditional classical, contemporary composers, and film music. Featuring Anna predominantly playing the organ, she also conducts the Pembroke College Chapel Choir.