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Johann Jacob Froberger, Libro quarto di toccata, ricercari, capricci allemande, gigue, courante, sarabande... (Vienna, 1656)

Webb Wiggins, harpsichord and organ

FoM 10-027.28

Webb Wiggins, a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players since 1985, is associate professor of harpsichord at the Oberlin College Conservatory. He has long had a special affinity for the works of Froberger, who studied in Rome with Girolamo Frescobaldi, was organist to the Imperial Hapsburg court in Vienna, and strongly influenced the works of Louis Couperin and German keyboard composers through J.S. Bach. For this two-CD set, Wiggins uses two exceptional instruments, a harpsichord by Earl Russell and Mark Adler based on French 17th-century models, and the Fairchild Chapel (Oberlin) organ built by John Brombaugh, which was inspired by early 17th-century German instruments. Froberger’s often piquant harmonies speak with exceptional pungency in the quarter-comma meantone temperaments employed.

Listen to the Courante in A Minor from Suite IV
With his recording of Froberger’s fourth book of keyboard pieces, Webb Wiggins makes an invaluable contribution to the discography of Johann Jakob Froberger. Wiggins at once astounds and moves the listener with his virtuosic, stylish, and emotive playing.  In Wiggins’ hands, Froberger’s rhetorical gestures are given rhapsodic and moving expression. This is expressive and soulful playing.
– Early Music America
Price: 
$20.00 + $2.98 shipping & handling
On this album: 

Libro Quatro of 1656:

CD 1:
[1]–[6] Six Toccatas
[7]–[12] Six Ricercars 
[13]–[18] Six Capriccios

CD 2:
[1] – [24] Six Suites