This is the third volume in our series of keyboard works by Sweelinck, played by Robert Woolley, one of Europe’s leading performers and teachers of the harpsichord and other early keyboard instruments.
Robert Woolley plays these pieces variously on a harpsichord and a virginal, according to the nature of the composition. He includes four challenging toccatas, six fantasias, and several sets of variations based on popular melodies, which reveal Sweelinck as an improviser at his best.
As well as being one of the most famous organists and teachers of his time, Sweelinck was also the last and most important composer of the golden musical era of the Netherlanders. His output comprises seventy works for keyboard, which represent some of the most richly imaginative music of the period, yet circulated only in manuscript during his lifetime.