Sweelinck – Fantasia Chromatica

A cross between a ricercare and a fantasia, this is a tour de force by the great Baroque Netherlander Jan Pieterszoon Swelling (1562-1621) and one of my favourite early Baroque pieces.
It begins with a slow, descending chromatic scale and adds three more parts in turn to the texture. Over the course of the seven minutes it builds in intensity and elaborateness, typically for the composer using shorter and shorter note values as it builds. I am playing solely on the coupler manual rather than changing onto different keyboards as the difference in weight of the keys between the Swell or Great and the bottom one is rather a lot, it being tracker action and not Barker lever!