Byrd & Bull: Visionaries Of The Piano 2cd / Armstr

Kit Armstrong - piano

Works by William Byrd & John Bull

Visionaries of piano music - Kit Armstrong "one of the most interesting pianists" (Die Welt) of our time presents groundbreaking compositions by William Byrd and John Bull On his new album, Armstrong embarks on an impressive journey through time to the world of early English composers William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) and John Bull (c. 1562-1628). His recording explores a remarkable legacy of works once written for organ or virginal - a close relative of the harpsichord. Byrd and Bull were gentlemen of the Chapel Royal in the Golden Age of Elizabeth I and her successor James I. Both composers helped to develop a repertoire of fine keyboard music that resonates across more than 400 years into the present day. In character, however, they were very different, and this is reflected in their styles. It is precisely this contrast that is of crucial importance to Armstrong The pieces he selects - far more than diversions for the upper classes or accessories for rituals - include meditative elegies as well as rousing marches, virtuoso variations, popular melodies or Bull's ingenious canons For Armstrong, it's music that transcends the instrument. "I wanted to make this recording because I don't want these works to be relegated as historical artifacts," he says. "We should be grateful to these two composers because they were probably the first in our history to have the vision that instrumental music is as profound as anything we find in humanity's cultural experience. Much of what has defined our musical culture - self-expression and self-aggrandizement - is found in the keyboard music of Byrd and Bull, drawn from the hearts and minds of these two men." "William Byrd and John Bull created a cosmos - the cosmos of piano music as it still exists today." - Kit Armstrong

Price: $25.98