Pachelbel: Canon (four recorders) from Lockdown

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was considered an organist and church composer in his day but in the 20th century became more known as an orchestral and chamber composer, mainly because of this one piece. It was rediscovered and published in 1919; the gigue that follows it was not printed until ten years later. The first to record the work was actually Arthur Fiedler of Boston Pops fame, in 1940. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the work came to prominence again, after Jean-François Paillard arranged and recorded it with his chamber orchestra. It was reissued in the United States in 1977 and spent over five years on the classical charts including several month at number one, when another recording of the piece by Christopher Hogwood overtook the top slot. The “Canon“ is based on the chord progression known as the Romanesca, and is part chaconne and part passacaglia as well. It is canonic because the three upper parts play exactly the same music, spaced two bars apart, while the