Sweelinck belonged to the family which for three generations presided over the organ of the Oude Kirk, Amsterdam. Famed as a virtuoso performer and composer, he was also a sought-after teacher, and listed among his pupils Bull, Phillips, both Scheidts, Praetorius and Scheidemann. In North Germany his pupils were to set in motion a school of playing which culminated in Johann Sebastian Bach. This disc represents steps in the allied growth of organ composition on that pathway.
Biography: Gail Archer is director of the music program at Barnard College, Columbia University and conductor of the Barnard-Columbia Chorus. She is a member of the music history faculty at the Manhattan School of Music where she teaches the doctoral seminar in historical performance practice and undergraduate course in Baroque music. She holds a DMA in organ performance from the Manhattan School of Music and the artist diploma from the Boston Conservatory. The New York Times described her playing of Messiaen's
Les Corps Glorieux as "...played with an agility that met the music's colouristic and rhythmic demands without calling attention to itself."
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