Hyperion Records

The voluntary played here, being in Nevell, must predate 1591, but only just. The manuscript’s table of contents calls it the voluntarie lesson. It opens with a short prelude that, in the most literal sense, sets the tone (Mixolydian G major). The same approach may be heard in another G major fantasia, BK63. The last section develops even further the idea already heard at the ends of Fancies BK46 and 25. In those works the closing idea lasted 7 and 12 semibreves, repectively; now it has become a long paragraph lasting 16 semibreves that comes to a climax in driving syncopated rhythms that recall the last section of BK46; once again, the whole paragraph is repeated with newly invented figuration, bringing the work to a flourishing close.

from notes by Davitt Moroney © 1999