WAYLTL - September 2024

At least at one time, there was some overlapping interest here in
the English virginals repertory....  I & others have noted piano
recitals for this repertory, for instance, most recently Mishka
Momen's _Reformation_ on Hyperion, which I continue to hear as an
important release in the virginals->piano project....

However, I also enjoy the sound of virginals themselves, and by
that I mean specifically virginals, rather than other sorts of
harpsichords (if that's the operative Venn diagram here...).  In
particular, the muselar virginals have a sound I've long enjoyed.
And now a new John Bull recital is particularly striking for its
sonics on a virginals:

_The Real John Bull_ is from Maciej Skrzeczkowski, a recent Belgian
contest winner, and released on Ricercar.  It's on streaming.

I guess the "real" refers to the sound of the virginals there, which
are rather splashy, including e.g. a mother & child model where he
plays on two keyboards (like an organ).  Bull's music needs a high
level of virtuosity to pull off, and gets it here, although I can
imagine more sophistication brought to this repertory as well....