Orlando Gibbons - Pavan & Galliard 'Lord Salisbury'

Michael Maxwell Steer performs Gibbons' most famous Pavan(e) & Galliard. This coupling of slow & fast dances was popular all over Europe from c1540 to c1650, after which they were superseded by Louis XIV's fashion/passion for the Allemande & Courante.
Robert Cecil, created Earl of Salisbury, was Elizabeth's leading minister and patron of William Byrd as well as Gibbons. To get a further glimpse into this world visit my BBCr3 programme about Thomas Coryate http://msteer.co.uk/audi/bbc/mp3coryate.html.
The harpsichord is a flemish model made in 1996 by Michael Ellis-James, believed to be from a Delin kit. For more about Michael Maxwell Steer visit http://msteer.co.uk/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Michael
• Maxwell
• Steer
• Tisbury
• orlando
• gibbons
• Salisbury
• Pavan
• pavane
• Galliard
• cecil
• harpsichord
• early
• keyboard
• fitzwilliam
• virginal
• book
• musica
• britannica
• coryate

[hrpschrdman]

Very nice performance on an instrument that really suit the music well. As a sidenote on the video production -- the painting in background are lovely -- too bad the fire extinguisher gets in the picture too. :) But that was just a momentary distraction, this was very good. You should record the Byrd Pavanne and Galliard of the same name too.

[maxwellsteer]

Yes the firextinguisher was a mistake. I changed the camera angle to avoid it & actually succeeded in including it! My posture when playing isnt the same as my posture when looking in the viewfinder.

Tx4 suggestion. I probably will cover the Byrd. I find it a pleasant diversion from other musical activities to (re)learn & record these pieces that you cannot actually fill a hall by playing in public.

[harmonise55]

Lovely, soulful, melancholic performance of the Pavanne, Max and really enjoyed the Galliard too. It's a wonderful instrument - which/where is it? What is your approach to tuning/intonation in these pieces?

[maxwellsteer]

The harpsichord is a flemish copy, made 1996 by Michael Ellis-Jones, & thought to be from a Delin Renaissance Workshops kit. It is a superb, & superbly reliable, instrument. Ive had it for 3 years & am still in love. Wish I could play it more often!

For tuning I use what I call 'optimised meantone' - WITS I vary it according to the key-range of the piece/s Im playing. Basically #-oriented repertoire I go for rich majors in the white note keys & tweak the black notes as required (eg here for Am).

[orion777temp]

faboulus,extraudinario,thanks,­keep on posting please



[comprehensiveboy]

Ah yes, the great Gibbons! Makes you proud to be an Englishman!

[Alberad08]

Thank you very much!

[peteacher52]

Great playing, sir, and I like your personable smile at the end! Gibbons certainly had some harmonic structures way ahead of his time. I reckon the fire extinguisher would only be an issue if you were recreating a 17th century evening and dressed accordingly; then it might be an amusing anachronism! Thanks for sharing your musical skill and knowledge with us. Cheers - Peter, NZ.

[lichtbroeder]

@hrpschrdman If my harpsichord playing was as "hot" as this, I'd have a fire extinguisher nearby too :)

[daasvand]

This is a very fine piece of work!

[hrpschrdman]

I've got a video out there that of me playing my harpsichord in a nice church and if you look you can see my harpsichord toolbox and the cover for the instrument rolled up in one corner of the screen. And I didn't even notice until I was almost finished editing the take, too late to go back and reshoot. Again, very nice music.