A first-ever complete recording
for keyboard collections which
capture the elegance and cosmopolitan
style of Georgian-era English
music. Maurice Greene (1696-1755)
belongs to the generation that
followed Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
and preceded Handel (1685-1759).
Becoming organist of St Paul’s
Cathedral in 1719, and in 1735
organist and composer to the Chapel
Royal, he wrote a good deal of church
music which is still in use today:
memorably simple but effective
anthems such as Thou visitest the
earth and Lord, let me know mine
end. Much less well known – and
most of it previously unrecorded –
is Greene’s corpus of instrumental
music. Published in 1745, his Six
Overtures in Seven Parts alternate a
slow and solemn French-style overture
with fugal Allegros and elegant
dance movements such as Minuets,
Gavottes or Airs.
The original orchestral scores have
recently attracted a recording:
Fernando De Luca has made his
own arrangements for solo harpsichord,
following a long-standing
practice and retaining the essential
exuberance of the Overtures while
inflecting them with refined
dynamic shading.
Rarer still are the 15 keyboard
‘Lessons’: Italianate suites which
bear witness to a transition from
the contrapuntal Baroque style to
a more Galant idiom, under the
influence of Italian exemplars such
as Corelli and Geminiani, as well
as the seductive charms of French
culture which captivated the upper
end of Georgian culture and society.
William Boyce (1711-1779) studied
with Greene and followed in the
footsteps of his teacher by attaining
the same distinguished posts at St
Paul’s and the Chapel Royal.

Again principally known for his
church music, he also wrote a
collection of overtures which
have retained popularity on the
fringes of the catalogue. His
Voluntaries for the Organ or
Harpsichord (published post
humously, in London, c.1779)
represent one of the final great
expressions of the genre in their
refined counterpoint and graceful
harmonies.
‘Harpsichordist Fernando De Luca
does a splendid job,’ remarked the
Fanfare magazine reviewer of the
Brilliant Classics album dedicated
to the music of Pierre-Claude
Foucquet: one of many comprehensive
collections through which
De Luca has revived lesser known
composers of the 18th century.
This volume of Boyce and Greene
stands as a notable addition to the
library.