Giovanni Maria Trabaci (c. 1575-1647)
             Solo Keyboard Music

Disc 1:
Ricercari [35:57]
Canzoni Francesi [18:39]
Disc 2:
Canzoni Francesi (cont.) [11:07]
Capricci [7:28]
Canti Fermi [14:32]
Gagliarde [17:18]
Disc 3:
Partite su Ruggiero [16:07]
Partite su Fedele [11:25]
Toccate [7:03]
Durezze & ligature [3:21]
Consonanze Stravaganti [2:17]
Io mi son giovinetto [5:43]
Sergio Vartolo, harpsichord and organ
Recorded 1997-98
Naxos 8.553550-52 (Book 1, 1603) [3cds - 150:58]

Disc 1:
Ricercate Tono I-XII [50:01]
Disc 2:
Primo Tono [11:14]
Secondo Tono [7:59]
Terzo Tono [9:12]
Quarto Tono [8:34]
Quinto Tono [7:42]
Sesto Tono [11:15]
Disc 3:
Settimo Tono [8:18]
Ottavo Tono [11:32]
Toccate [18:35]
Canti fermi [5:10]
Gagliarde a 4[10:08]
Disc 4:
Gagliarde a 5 [17:31]
Partite Artificiose [14:08]
Partite Artificiose - harp [3:53] *
Ancidetemi pur [18:13]
Sergio Vartolo, harpsichord and organ
Andrew Lawrence King, harp *
Recorded 1997/98/2000
Naxos 8.553553-56 (Book 2, 1615) [4cds - 205:25]

Lovers of early Baroque keyboard music are greatly in debt to Naxos for
these seven discs devoted to the works of Giovanni Maria Trabaci.  Although
the total music could fit on five cds, there is still a huge amount of
Trabaci's music to absorb and enjoy.  Further, providing these many hours
of music is the exceptional early music specialist Sergio Vartolo who
has a host of discs on the Tactus label to his credit as well as other
recordings devoted to D.  Scarlatti and Frescobaldi.  In addition, Vartolo
has recorded for Tactus one of my favorite versions of Bach's Goldberg
Variations.

Vartolo uses a variety of historical instruments and copies of originals
for his Trabaci project, insuring a reasonably accurate aesthetic for
the program.  I have not included in the heading the particular instruments
used, but Vartolo gives equal priority to the harpsichord and organ with
Andrew Lawrence King having the honors on harp for a portion of the
Partite Artificiose.

Trabaci's keyboard music represents a compendium of the musical styles
prevalent during his lifetime.  His architecture is rock-solid, and he
creates haunting environments with an enticing blend of sweetness and
severity.

There is one thing missing from Trabaci's basket of musical skills.
To put it mildly, he was not a great melodist.  I have been listening to
the Naxos sets for over a year now hoping to find some wonderfully poetic
and gorgeous nuggets.  It has been in vain, and I must conclude that
they are not part of Trabaci's musical make-up, although Vartolo is not
his usually imaginative self in these performances and should take some
of the blame.

Summary: I congratulate Naxos for its decision to give us a heaping
amount of Trabaci's solo keyboard music that fills a gap in the early
music discography.  Those who love the music of Antonio de Cabezon will
likely find much to enjoy from the seven discs, and we can't reasonably
expect any recorded competition for years to come.  Yet, I have some
skepticism concerning both the compositions and the performances.  Overall,
I give both sets a mild recommendation, and my best advice is to venture
into the musical world of the magnificent de Cabezon (b.  1510) through
a 2-cd set of his organ works on Mottete 12291; this is the best of early
music by a masterful composer, and the organist Jose Luis Gonzalez Uriol
plays six different historical organs.  If you have the impression that
I rank de Cabezon well above Trabaci, you are exactly right.

Don Satz
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