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Recordings |
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| Vive le Roy NPC 002 |
David Ponsford (Organ) |
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Organ music with French influence by J S Bach (Fantasias in G major and C minor, Passacaglia in C minor, An Wasserflüssen Babylon) together with their supposed French models by François Couperin (Tierce en taille and Offertoire sur les Grands Jeux from Messe pour les couvents), André Raison (Le Vive le Roy des Parisiens, Trio en passacaille), and Nicolas de Grigny (the complete Gloria in excelsis from Premier livre d’orgue). Played on the Peter Collins organ (1990) at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
Total playing time: 79:53 |
| “This is a splendid disc which shows off the many colours of the Peter Collins organ and its versatility in conveying the essential tone character both of French and German organ traditions.” Nicholas Anderson, Classic FM Magazine
“David Ponsford’s programme is exciting.” Adrian Jack, BBC Music Magazine “This CD admirably highlights the close relationship between French music and Bach’s compositions. Ponsford has contributed an informative and scholarly booklet. I hope this disc won’t be confined to university music departments or conservatoire organ students, as it deserves to be heard by a wider audience. Ponsford’s Bach performances have a natural simplicity of approach that is as enjoyable as the flamboyance of a Koopman. The simple registration of the C minor Fantasia is very effective; the gently varied colours of the Passacaglia work beautifully, and this piece receives a fine interpretation with some telling rubato. The French works are given dignified performances, appropriate to their sacred ethos, and there’s some stylish ornamentation.” Christopher Nickol, Gramophone |
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| The 1786 Samuel Green Chamber organ in Dinmore Manor Chapel Herefordshire DRD 004 |
David Ponsford (Organ) |
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This delightful historic chamber organ (recently removed to Croft Castle) is the instrument for a programme of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music by Handel (Water Music), voluntaries by John Stanley and William Walond, as well as pieces by Byrd, Sweelinck, Böhm, Arne and Domenico Scarlatti’s three organ sonatas.
Total playing time: 59:34. |
| “This well-recorded disc serves to remind us of the excellence of David Ponsford’s playing. Each and every piece is given a stylish performance.” Roger Fisher, Organists’ Review | |
| J S Bach: Clavierübung III and Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig GMCD 7262/3 |
David Ponsford (Organ) |
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J S Bach’s first publication of music for organ - Clavierübung Part 3 (Leipzig, 1739) - is a monumental collection of chorale preludes appropriate to the Lutheran liturgy. Framed by the massive Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (BWV 552), the cycle is suffused with religious, pictorial and numerical symbolism. Coupled with the most beautiful of Bach’s chorale partitas, Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig, it is recorded on one of Great Britain’s largest new mechanical-action organs - the Peter Collins organ Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
Total playing time: 2:03:16 (2 discs) |
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“The scholarly David Ponsford turns out a pretty impeccable performance . . . he also includes the monumental Partita BWV 768 and gives a fine interpretation of this glorious work. Guild’s recording is crisp and very immediate with fine detailed notes. I await further organ CDs from this source with interest.” Gerald Fenech, Classical Net Review |
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| Annus Mirabilis 1685 NPC 003 |
David Ponsford (Harpsichord) |
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Harpsichord music celebrating the birth of J S Bach (Partita No. 4 in D major), Handel (Suite No. 7 in G minor), Domenico Scarlatti (Three Sonatas from Essercizi per gravicembalo), and first recorded performances of two pieces by P. G. Sandoni (1685- 1748) transcribed and edited by David Ponsford.
Total playing time: 72:18. |
| “Ponsford’s playing is subtle and stylish - exquisitely liquid in the more lyrical movements . . .” Kate Bolton, BBC Music Magazine
“Convincing performances.” Ann Bond, Choir & Organ |
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| Parthenia RVRCD61 |
David Ponsford (Harpsichords & Virginals) |
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Parthenia was the first keyboard music to be printed in England, and was a wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth Stuart, only daughter of James I and VI, and Frederick V, Elector Palatine of Heidelberg. It contained music by the three most famous composers of the age, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and John Bull, and is here recorded on three very different instruments: harpsichord (by Andrew Garlick) and muselar (by Malcolm Greenhalgh) in the style of Ruckers, and an Italian harpsichord by Colin Booth. A scholarly essay by Janet Pollack is included in the booklet. Total playing time: 57:43 |
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“David Ponsford is a sensitive and imaginative player, and brings a sober and poignant sensibility to the pavans that I think is just right. His sense of phrasing and articulation is very good too, aided in no small measure by his extensive reliance on historical fingerings . . . The pitch is A=392 and the meantone temperament is wonderful. The sound quality is very natural – not overproduced – which allows me to enjoy the timbre of these fine instruments almost as if I were playing them myself.” Robert Haskins, Harpsichord & fortepiano |
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HISTORICAL ORGAN SERIES |
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| Music from Croft Castle DRD 087 |
David Ponsford (Organ) |
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A new recording of the 1786 Samuel Green organ in its new home and tuned in Vallotti temperament. The selection of music reflects the repertory that would have been played on such an instrument in the late eighteenth century: Handel, Stanley, JS Bach (preludes and fugues from the Well-tempered Clavier), Scarlatti, Croft, Walond and Arne. Total playing time: 77:20 |
| The Power of Music RVRCD 78 |
David Ponsford (Organ) |
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This is the first recording of one of Great Britain’s most interesting chamber organs. The nameboard is inscribed ‘This Organ, was Originally built by that celebrated Artist, commonly called, Father Smith; and was erected in its present form, by Robert Gray; of London, 1775.’ All but a few pipes do indeed date from the 1670s, and three different repertories are played.
Total playing time: 75:01 |
CHAMBER MUSIC |
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| Bach Violin Sonatas CD GAU 228 |
Jacqueline Ross (violin), David Ponsford (harpsichord) |
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This is the first in a series of three CDs devoted to the complete violin sonatas of J S Bach, together with sonatas by his son C P E Bach. From the monumental set of six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord, the Sonatas No. 3 in E major (BWV 1016), No. 4 in C minor (BWV 1017) and No. 2 in A major (BWV 1015) form the core of this first CD in which David plays with the American violinist Jacqueline Ross, who plays on a 1570 Andrea Amati violin. Also included are the Sonatas in F major (BWV 1022) and G minor (BWV 1020), attributed to both J S and C P E Bach.
Total playing time: 70:12. |
| “ played with inflective grace and linear clarity... There is a directness about their playing, which reaches the heart of the music with less effort and baggage than some rival versions. This pays off especially well in the three great sonatas, whose performance contains more allure than those by Sigiswald Kuijken (BMG) or Andrew Manze (Harmonia Mundi)." Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine | |
| Bach Violin Sonatas Vol. 2 (ASV Gaudeamus, 2002) |
Jacqueline Ross (violin), David Ponsford (harpsichord) |
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J S Bach’s obbligato sonatas No. 1 in B minor (BWV 1014), No. 5 in F minor (BWV 1016) and No. 6 in G major (BWV 1019) are juxtaposed with two previously unrecorded sonatas by C P E Bach: Sonatas in C (1745) and D (1731). Catalogue No. CD GAU 308 Total playing time: 66:44 |
| “Jacqueline Ross, playing a beautifully even-toned Andrea Amati violin of 1570... demonstrates a wide range of expressive means, embellishes tastefully and uses vibrato, as well as messe di voce and other nuances, effectively and economically... the overall impression is of committed, stylish performances that bring new insights into this repertory... David Ponsford’s harpsichord contribution is excellent.” Robin Stowell, The Strad
“Wonderful playing... recommended” Early Music Review |
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| Bach Violin Sonatas Vol. 3 CD GAU 345 |
Jacqueline Ross (violin), David Ponsford (harpsichord) Richard Boothby (viola da gamba) |
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J. S. Bach’s obbligato sonata No. 6 in G major in its early version (BWV 1019a), continuo sonatas in G major (BWV 1021), C minor (BWV 1024) and E minor (BWV 1023), and two sonatas by C. P. E. Bach in B flat major and D major. Features 3 world-premier recordings. Total playing time: 74:04 |
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“The inflective grace and linear clarity achieved by Ross and Ponsford, above all in their playing of the sonatas with fully written out harpsichord accompaniment, are qualities of their musical partnership which I have admired in the preceding volumes. Ross and Ponsford play with stylistic assurance and an expressive warmth which touches my heart in much the way as composers who cultivated the Empfindsamer Stil intended. A fine achievement all round.” Nicholas Anderson, International Record Review |
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| Handel Complete Recorder Sonatas GMCD 7301 |
Alan Davis (recorder) |
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Alan Davis uses Handel’s own manuscript of these incomparably beautiful sonatas, and plays on a recorder by Frederick Morgan after Stanesby (c. 1720). Handel’s solo harpsichord suite in G minor completes the programme, which is supplemented by authoritative essays by the performers. Total playing time: 78:53 |
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“Davis and Ponsford balance expression and cleanness as well as anyone I have heard, and it is hard to imagine a better performance of these sonatas any time soon. Well done.” Kreitner, American Guide “It’s just that cantabile quality Alan Davis and David Ponsford bring to these beautiful new recordings . . . This, and the relative sparseness of using harpsichord accompaniment alone (and here Ponsford is as eloquent a partner as he is a soloist in the Harpsichord Suite No. 7 which ends the disc), result in deeply moving performances (perfectly captured by Paul Arden-Taylor) that gets to the heart of the matter with little fuss.” Robert Levett, International Record Review |
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| David Ponsford - Organist, Harpsichordist, Musicologist t: +44 (0)1285 651 995 e:  |
