Saturday 19 January 2008

37. John Jenkins - Fantasias (circa 1630s)
















Recording

Title: The Mirrour and Wonder of his Age
Performers: Fretwork, Paul Nicholson (organ)
Year: 1995
Length: Around 29 minutes

Review

Ahh some nice Chamber music to break the vocal nature of most music on the list until now and it is quite pleasing Chamber music at that. Again this is a case of an anglocentric list, this isn't a particularly main composer and the music isn't particularly amazing, just quite pleasant.

The main interesting thing here is how the viol consort is allied to organ and this is quite novel and not something I had heard before, usually in this kind of stuff you have the harpsichord doing the continuo work, but not here.

That innovation aside this isn't particularly impressive or unimpressive, it is pretty, and very competently performed, the music does not sound dry or anyhting I just left me a bot cold, and I am a particular lover of viols. So there.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Jenkins is buried in the nave of St. Peter's church, Kimberley, Norfolk, with this inscription:

Under this Stone Rare Jenkins lie
The Master of the Musick Art
Whom from the Earth the God on High
Called up to Him to bear his part.
Aged eighty six October twenty seven
In anno seventy eight he went to Heaven.
In God We Trust.



Another piece by John Jenkins as there were no Fantasias on the tubes, Newarke Seidge:

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