The harpsichord suites of the Belgian-born ''John Loeillet of London'' (as he became known after settling here about 1705) have only rarely, and briefly, figured in the record catalogues: three of them (Nos. 1, 2 and 4) once appeared on a disc by Luciano Sgrizzi (STU70727, 11/72—nla), and David Sanger recorded No. 3 (SAGA5384, 7/74), but otherwise I can't remember encountering them. And that is odd, considering how melodious and immediately appealing they are. Gerald Gifford attributes their unfamiliarity to the rarity of copies of the original edition of 1723—he has used a copy in the Burghley House collection; but I am glad to hear that he has prepared a facsimile edition that is to be published by Oxford University Press, and then there will be no excuse for neglecting such gratefully written and attractive keyboard pieces. They follow the orthodix suite pattern more closely than Handel's first set (of a couple of years earlier), but their predominantly Italianate character is tempered by French influences.
Using the late Mary Potts's Shudi and Broadwood of about 1775 (a big, resonant instrument of robust sonority equipped with a machine stop), which has been recorded with fidelity in Burghley House chapel, Gifford gives unmannered, vital and buoyant performances, occasionally adding discreet variants but not Frenchifying the rhythms. Specially commendable to those wishing to sample this cassette are the infectiously vivacious Air of the G minor Suite, the wide-ranging D major Allemande or any of the bouncy, sparkling Gigas.'