Richard Egarr
Clogg'd in the English Vein
Part of Salon Encores.
Performers
Richard Egarr, Harpsichord
Program
J.P. SWEELINCK Toccata in A, SwWV 296
J.P. SWEELINCK Fantasia chromatica
MORLEY Variations on "Goe from my window"
BYRD Fantasia in A Minor
BYRD Pavan and Galliard in A Minor, No. 3, MB 16a/b
BYRD The Bells
PURCELL Suite in G Major, Z. 660
PURCELL Ground in C Minor, ZD. 221
BLOW Suite No. 1 in D Minor
BLOW Suite No. 2 in D Minor
BLOW Chaconne in Fa-Ut
PURCELL Suite in G Minor, Z. 661
PURCELL "A New Ground" in E Minor, Z. 682
PURCELL Suite in D Major, Z. 667
PURCELL Ground in D Minor, ZD. 222
Encore:
FROBERGER Lamento sopra la dolorosa perdita della Real Maesta di Ferdinando IV
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
The music of the so-called English virginalist composers actually was intended for performance on any of several plucked-string keyboard instruments—virginal, spinet, or harpsichord—that were in widespread use in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This rich and enormously varied repertoire is distinguished by its florid embellishments, wide-ranging textures and figurations, and imaginative use of popular songs and dances. In the late 1600s, John Blow and his star pupil, Henry Purcell, adopted many of these same stylistic features and keyboard techniques in their suites and solo pieces for harpsichord. Both composers were influenced as well by the French penchant for smoothly flowing melodies, often built on top of a repeating melodic and harmonic pattern known as a ground bass.
Bios
Richard Egarr
Richard Egarr brings to all his music making a joyful sense of adventure and a keen,
inquiring mind--whether conducting, directing from the keyboard, giving recitals, playing
chamber music, or even just talking about music at every opportunity. Not only acting as
music director of the Academy of Ancient Music since 2006, he is also associate artist with
the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Egarr has a flourishing career as a guest conductor
with orchestras that include the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and also acts as a visiting artist at The Juilliard
School.
This season, Mr. Egarr makes his debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, The
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He also
returns to the Seattle Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, Royal Flemish
Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Tasmanian Symphony
Orchestra, and Boston's renowned Handel and Haydn Society.
Mr. Egarr continues to play solo recitals around the world, with concerts this season at
Wigmore Hall, the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, as well as across North America. His
extensive discography on Harmonia Mundi includes solo keyboard works by J. S. Bach, Handel,
Mozart, and Couperin, with an album of Bach partitas to be released in February. His long
list of recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music includes seven Handel discs (which
have received such accolades as Gramophone, MIDEM, and Edison awards), and most
recently Bach's St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion on the
orchestra's own label. In 2015, he conducted a sold-out performance of Gilbert and
Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore at the Edinburgh International Festival--a performance
that was recorded live and released on Linn Records in 2016 to enthusiastic reviews.
Mr. Egarr trained as a choirboy at York Minster, as a student at Chetham's School of Music
in Manchester, and as an organ scholar at Cambridge's Clare College. His studies with
preeminent harpsichordists Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the
field of historical performance.