Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - The Orpheus of Amsterdam
PC-10462 (Pan Classics, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (11 October 2024)
Tracks: 13
Booklet pages: 20
℗ 2024 note 1 music gmbh
© 2024 note 1 music gmbh
Main country of recording: Netherlands
Country of manufacture: Netherlands
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - The Orpheus of Amsterdam published on 13 November 2024
The Royal Wind Music
Hester Groenleer, artistic director
María Martínez Ayerza, artistic director
If there is one name in the history of music in the northern Netherlands that is etched in the collective memory, it is undoubtedly that of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - a composer of impressive vocal and instrumental works of exceptionally high quality. He is celebrated as the 'Orpheus of Amsterdam', as he was organist of the Oude Kerk between 1577 and 1621, and the Amsterdam city council knew how to patronise the popular musician in their city and help him to prosper. Sweelinck's vocal works were widely distributed thanks to the flourishing publishing industry, but his organ works also had a great influence on the North German organ school, right up to Johann Sebastian Bach. The Royal Wind Music is a flute consort of Renaissance recorders of all pitches, from soprano down to sub-contrabass flute. The ensemble is often compared to a 'walking organ' because of its even and polyphonic sound possibilities. In their choice of four programme sections, the musicians contrast a vocal work and an organ work by Sweelinck with variation pieces by Sweelinck himself or two new compositions written especially for this programme and the ensemble. Orpheus' voice thus resounds in a wonderfully cohesive sound, sometimes interrupted by the echo of new soundscapes.