25 – Ffonde youthe is a bubble
Thomas Tallis
Neutral Spinet Recording
Organ - fast
Largely unornamented, this recording features a light and delicate 4’ flute stop and a lively tempo. This was aimed at attempting to capture the bubbly and excited nature of youthfulness. A vocally inspired approach to the phrasing of the melody attempts to emphasise the tunefulness over the harmony. The directness of the 4’ stop helped to achieve the agility which was captured in this recording – this would have been a possible register choice on a Tudor organ of Mulliner’s time.
Organ - slow
This rendition was inspired by the Grand Jeux style movements from French Classical Organ Masses. The registration scheme is dominated by the reed stops and mutations available on this organ and would not have been possible on a Tudor organ. The slow tempo reflects the grandness of this sound – any faster and the music would be lost in the large acoustic. Likewise, ornamentation is kept generally simplistic as more complex ornamentation would have been obscured by the registration choice. There is something about this transformation which seems to work. The slow tempo combined with the grand sound completely reimagines this lively piece into a kind of stately march.
Organ - chorale prelude
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Harpsichord - fast
This recording on the harpsichord attempted to highlight the youthful energy of piece. My primary intention here was to select a lively tempo and then to ornament the melody in a suitable way, so as to not slow down the natural drive of the music. The incisive action of a harpsichord naturally lends itself to this kind of interpretation in this piece. The reduced amount of chord spreading also helps to maintain the original lively tempo.
Spinet - slow and expressive
In this recording, I tried to draw out all the expressive moments that are found throughout this piece; the character implications of the bubbliness of youth are subverted by the slow tempo and introspective style of performance. The very slow tempo enabled me to focus on producing beautiful chord spreads, runs in between larger intervals, and suspensions. The slow tempo also enabled the interplay between false relations, and moments of conflicting modality, to be emphasised. The intimate nature of the spinet, a quiet and delicate instrument, also helps to heighten the emotional expression of this performance. Of all of these recordings, I believe this is perhaps one of the most successful.