Maurice Greene; William Boyce - Overtures & Lessons; Voluntaries (Fernando De Luca)

Information

Composer: Maurice Greene; William Boyce

• Greene - 6 Overtures
• Greene - 15 Lessons
• Boyce - 12 Voluntaries

Fernando De Luca, harpsichord

Date: 2026

Label: Brilliant Classics

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This landmark release features the first-ever complete recording of keyboard collections capturing the elegant, cosmopolitan style of Georgian-era English music. Performed by acclaimed harpsichordist Fernando De Luca, the album highlights the instrumental music of Maurice Greene and William Boyce, both of whom held prestigious posts at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The recording features De Luca's solo harpsichord arrangements of Greene's Six Overtures in Seven Parts, alongside rare Italianate "Lessons" that bridge the Baroque and Galant styles. It concludes with Boyce’s posthumous Voluntaries, offering a brilliant revival of lesser-known 18th-century English repertoire.

Maurice Greene (1696–1755) was a prominent English composer and organist whose career spanned several of Georgian England's most prestigious musical posts. A former St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy, he eventually became its organist, later securing appointments as organist at the Chapel Royal, Professor of Music at Cambridge, and Master of the King's Musick. Greene's legacy includes long verse anthems like Lord, Let Me Know Mine End and highly contrapuntal organ voluntaries characterized by chromaticism. At his death, he was compiling Cathedral Music, a definitive collection completed by his successor William Boyce that remains central to Anglican services today.

William Boyce (1711–1779) was a premier English composer, organist, and musical editor whose career was defined by prominent official appointments. After studying at St. Paul’s Cathedral, he secured influential positions, including composer and organist for the Chapel Royal and master of the King’s Band of Music. Boyce excelled in writing both sacred anthems and popular secular stage music, such as the serenata Solomon and the famous song "Heart of Oak." Though his traditional, Italian-style Eight Symphonys eventually yielded to modern Classical trends, his monumental three-volume compilation, Cathedral Music, remained England's definitive choral collection for nearly a century.