Van Noordt; Complete Organ Music

n 1659, a volume including ten Psalm variations and six Fantasias by Anthoni Van Noordt was published. It was entitled "Tabulatuurboeck van Psalmen en Fantasyen", the first keyboard music book to be published in fifty years. These works give important information about the way organ music was composed and improvised during those transition times between Renaissance and Baroque, in which English and Dutch traditions were merging. The compositions became more extended and enriched with more complex and modern patterns of German influence, led by composers such as Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), Heinrich Scheidemann (c. 1596-1663) and Matthias Weckmann (1616-1674): this led to the development of a more extensive use of the pedal, which also included many elaborate "obbligato" pedal passages.

· Anthoni van Noordt was born in Amsterdam, where he lived throughout his life. He became the organist of the Nieuwezijdskapel in 1652, and took up a post at the Nieuwe Kerk in 1664, where he remained until 1673. His known compositions are all for organ, and are in the tradition of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and the North German school. The works are of a high quality, showing contrapuntal mastery and a sure technique.

· Also included are two works by Sweelinck and Scheidemann, who both had a decisive influence on Van Noordt.

· Played on the historic F. Stellwagen organ of 1636/37, in the Jakobikirche of Lübeck, Germany, the specifications of which are included in the booklet.

Organist Manuel Tomadin is one of the foremost Italian organists of today, a scholar and passionate musician, with an impressive discography to his name: Husumer Organ Book, Alberti Complete Keyboard Works, and other North German organ masters.