The life of an Amsterdam professional organist in the mid 1600's was
artistically restrictive.  Amsterdam's City Council told them which church
they would be associated with and what type of music they would compose and
perform.  Although it sounds quite unreasonable to me, in 1619 the Synod of
Dordrecht mandated that only Genevan psalms could be sung during church
services and that no instrumental accompaniment was allowed.  These rules
resulted in church members poorly singing psalms they were not familiar
with, and the Amsterdam City Council did not approve of disagreeable
singing.

During that time period, every church had a church organist, although there
apparently wasn't much to do during church services.  Instead, the church
organists were expected to give 'public' recitals sometimes on a daily
basis.  The City Council sized up the situation and then required all its
municipal and church organists to compose and regularly perform improvised
music around the psalms that church members couldn't sing worth a damn.
That way, they would at least gain intimacy with the psalms.

Enter Anthoni van Noordt who was a composer and organist for the New Church
in Amsterdam; his elder brother had the same position at the Old Church in
Amsterdam.  In response to the mandates of the City Council, van Noordt did
what he was told, compiled some older musical material, composed new
material, then put it all together into his Tablature Book of Psalms and
Fantasies.  The only music handed down to us from van Noordt lives in this
1659 Book.

Naxos has been delving into the world of organ music and has even developed
a series titled "The Organ Encyclopedia" which spans centuries of organ
composition up to present time.  Two van Noordt discs have been released:
8.554204 & 4205.  Together, you get all the music we know from van Noordt.
At this point, I just have Volume 2 which is performed by Cees van der Poel
who uses the Organ of the Nieuwe Kerk, Haarlem.

What's the music like? Well, it's certainly reverential given its purpose
when composed.  However, it has much going for it:  excellent rhythmic
pulse, good momentum, fine melodic themes and development, etc.  van Noordt
knew how to compose in an expert manner and exactly what his audience and
employers were expecting from him.  Volume 2 contains seven works divided
between three fantasias and four psalms.  The music often has fugue-like
characteristics and stretti which help provide strong momentum and a sense
of inevitability.  I am very impressed with van Noordt's artistic talent,
and his compositional style is one I greatly identify with.  van Noordt is
not at Bach's level, but in some regards he's very close.

Each of the three Fantasias is about five minutes in length and wonderfully
inspired music.  Fantasia No.  5 is particuarly rewarding with its glorious
heroic ceremony; this piece is masterful music of great strength, lyricism,
and drive.

The four Psalms are no less inspiring than the Fantasias.  I especially
love the increasing intensity of Psalm XXXVIII which is Track 5.  Since
Fantasia No.  5 is Track 6, I've been programming those two tracks a great
deal in the past few days.

The performances by Cees van der Poel are excellent and well highlight the
stretti and drive of the music.  The sound is about as good as can be.  Any
negatives? Just one, and it's a very minor one to my mind.  Variety in not
strong in the music.  There are no fast or highly exuberant passages; there
are also no very slow passages.  This is poignant and driven music which
has a rather narrow range, but within the range all is wonderful.

Don's Conclusions:  I was bowled over by Volume 2 of van Noordt's organ
music.  I have been buying and listening to a great many Bach organ
recordings over the past few months.  Some of them have been exceptional
such as Leonhardt, Richter, Walcha, and Suzuki(German Mass).  This van
Noordt disc from Naxos is in that category.  If you have any interest in
organ music from the baroque period, the disc is an essential addition to
your library.  I'll be ordering Volume 1 right after I send this posting to
the list.

Don Satz
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