Greene: Overtures, Lessons & Voluntaries

A first-ever complete recording for keyboard collections which capture the elegance and cosmopolitan style of Georgian-era English music.

Composer: Maurice Greene
Artist: Fernando De Luca (harpsichord)

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Maurice Greene (1696-1755) belongs to the generation that followed Henry Purcell and preceded Handel. Becoming organist of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1719, and in 1735 organist and composer to the Chapel Royal, he wrote a good deal of church music which is still in use today: memorably simple but effective anthems such as Thou visitest the earth and Lord, let me know mine end.

Much less well known – and most of it previously unrecorded – is Greene’s corpus of instrumental music. Published in 1745, his Six Overtures in Seven Parts alternate a slow and solemn French-style overture with fugal Allegros and elegant dance movements such as Minuets, Gavottes or Airs. The original orchestral scores have recently attracted a recording: Fernando De Luca has made his own arrangements for solo harpsichord, following a long-standing practice and retaining the essential exuberance of the Overtures while inflecting them with refined dynamic shading.

Rarer still are the 15 keyboard ‘Lessons’: Italianate suites which bear witness to a transition from the contrapuntal Baroque style to a more Galant idiom, under the influence of Italian exemplars such as Corelli and Geminiani, as well as the seductive charms of French culture which captivated the upper end of Georgian culture and society.

Tracklist:
Overture I in D Major:
0:00:00 I. Allegro assai
0:03:00 II. Andante
0:05:01 III. Vivace

Overture II in G Major:
0:06:37 I. [Andante] – Allegro
0:11:34 II. Andante
0:12:12 III. Allegro

Overture III in C Major:
0:15:05 I. [Andante]
0:19:27 II. Allegro assai
0:20:00 III. Allegro ma non troppo

Overture IV in E Major:
0:21:34 I. Con spirito
0:25:31 II. Allegro
0:28:26 III. Moderato allegro

Overture V in D Major:
0:30:12 I. Allegro
0:33:08 II. Andante vivace
0:36:00 III. Presto

Overture VI in E-Flat Major:
0:37:24 I. Con spirito
0:42:14 II. Allegro
0:45:22 III. Moderato presto

Lesson I in G Major:
0:47:15 I. Allegro
0:50:01 II. Allegro
0:53:07 III. Vivace
0:54:31 IV. Allegro

Lesson II in D Major:
0:57:10 I. Allegro
1:00:50 II. Andante
1:03:46 III. Allegro

Lesson III in G Minor:
1:05:09 I. Vivace
1:08:45 II. Allegro
1:11:20 III. Tempo di gavotte

Lesson IV in C Minor:
1:13:22 I. Presto
1:16:01 II. Vivace
1:17:34 III. Allegro
1:20:08 IV. Allegro

Lesson V in F Major:
1:22:12 I. Allegro
1:26:31 II. Andante vivace
1:27:47 III. Allegro

Lesson VI in B-Flat Major:
1:29:47 I. Allegro
1:32:18 II. Minueto Allegro – Vivace (da capo)

Lesson VII in F Major:
1:38:22 I. Molto allegro
1:40:48 II. Allegro
1:42:07 III. Andante
1:44:57 IV. Allegro

1:45:59 Lesson VIII in D Minor: I. Aria con variationi

Lesson IX in F Major:
1:51:27 I. Allegro
1:53:52 II. Andante
1:56:06 III. Allegro

Lesson X in A Minor:
1:57:19 I. Allegro
2:01:04 II. Vivace
2:02:40 III. Molto allegro

Lesson XI in A Major:
2:04:39 I. Aria con variation
2:09:52 II. Andante
2:11:59 III. Allegro
2:13:19 IV. Allegro

Lesson XII in E Major:
2:14:23 I. Allegro
2:18:47 II. Vivace
2:20:16 III. Aria con variation

Lesson XIII in E-Flat Major:
2:25:26 I. Allegro
2:28:23 II. Vivace
2:30:47 III. Allegro
2:33:02 IV. Allegro

Lesson XIV in C Major:
2:35:48 I. Allegro
2:40:57 II. Vivace
2:43:14 III. Allegro

Lesson XV in F Major:
2:45:48 I. Allegro
2:50:46 II. Allegro
2:55:20 III. Allegro

2:58:00 Voluntary I in A Major. Andante – Vivace
3:01:53 Voluntary II in F Minor. Largo – Andante
3:05:15 Voluntary III in A Minor. Largo – Andante
3:08:17 Voluntary IV in G Minor. Grave – Andante
3:13:03 Voluntary V in G Major. Andante – Vivace
3:16:45 Voluntary VI in B-Flat Major. Andante – Vivace
3:20:31 Voluntary VII in E-Flat Major. Largo – Vivace
3:23:41 Voluntary VIII in C Minor. Largo – Vivace
3:27:19 Voluntary IX in E Minor. Largo – Andante
3:30:41 Voluntary X in D Minor. Largo – Andante
3:36:19 Voluntary XI in B Minor. Largo – Vivace
3:39:54 Voluntary XII in E Major. Largo – Vivace