The Royal Wind Music • The Orpheus of Amsterdam (CD)

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Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck:
The Orpheus of Amsterdam

•• OUR FEATURED ALBUM FOR NOVEMBER 2024 ••
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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 consort of Renaissance recorders of all pitches, from soprano down to sub-contrabass. 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.

PC10462 • Released 2024