Brilliant keyboard music by William Byrd (1542/43-1623), brilliantly performed by Dutch instrumentalist and conductor Pieter-Jan Belder, all brilliantly recorded on the Brilliant Classics label. Now enough with the word puns.

"The noblest and most profoundly religious Services for the Church of England were written by William Byrd, not because he was a staunch Catholic, but because he was still imbued with the sheer devotional grandeur of polyphonic church music." {Paul Henry Lang - Music in Western Civilization}. Some of his Masses and Motets are still part of the repertoire of Anglican cathedrals

The preceding statement could just as well apply to his keyboard music. Byrd was the organist of Lincoln Cathedral, and a member of the Chapel Royal. Along with Shakespeare he was an important figure of the English Renaissance. At times he was dubbed the English Lassus and/or the English Palestrina. Eschewing the influence of Italian art, his instrumental music was highly distinctive. At times plaintive as in the A Fancie (Fantasia) in D minor, BK46 or playful and quasi-improvised as in the Gloria tibi trinitas, BK50, these pieces supplied the basic tools for what was to become English baroque music.

The instrument used for this recording is the Albert Kiespenning organ of the Grote Kerk, in the Netherlands. A painstakingly crafted pipe organ originally from the 15th century which underwent renovations and additions from the 16th to the 19th century. With its basic configuration of just under 20 stops ranging from a 1' Flageolet to a 16' Bourdon, it's perfectly suited to enhance the pure harmonic subtleties of Byrd's music. Harpsichordist and organist Pieter-Jan Belder expertly blends the registration of this organ in order to properly serve the character of each piece accordingly. He studied harpsichord with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatorium and is currently teacher of Baroque performance at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck.

Although William Byrd died more than 60 years prior to the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, he laid down all of the substructure on which Bach was able to build his musical edifice. This is a CD that any and all serious pipe organ music collectors should acquire.