James Nares was organist of York Minster for some twenty years (1735–1756) before moving to the Chapel Royal, and it was during his time at York that he published his first collection of harpsichord music, Eight Setts of Lessons for the Harpsichord, which was issued by John Johnson in 1747. Similar collections of ‘lessons’ had been published by several other composers in preceding years, including those by Richard Jones (1732), Thomas Chilcot (1734), Henry Symonds (1734), John Christopher Smith (c1732 and 1735) and John Alcock (1741), but Nares's collection is perhaps the most impressive among these, besides containing two lessons more than the usual six.

Nares's collection was published by subscription, and the subscribers included some notable names. Julian Perkins's CD booklet mentions Thomas Arne, William Boyce and George Frideric Handel; other notable composers who subscribed were Alcock, Charles Avison, Willem De Fesch, Maurice Greene, Barnabas Gunn, William Hayes, Johann Christoph Pepusch, John Stanley, John Travers and Worgan (either James or John), while the publishers John Walsh and John Johnson each ordered seven copies. They were surely not disappointed, for there is some fine music in the collection, and the fact that it was reissued ten years later may attest to its commercial success. Interestingly, this compact disc itself was also issued by subscription, thus reviving the eighteenth-century practice; the subscribers' names are duly listed in the booklet, and even include one modern-day James Nares.

One of the most striking features about the collection is the structural variety displayed by the eight ‘setts’. Although each ‘sett’ has either three or four movements, they form an interesting hybrid between the traditional baroque suite and the not-yet-developed classical sonata. Lesson 6, consisting of an Allemand, Courant and Gavot, is the most retrospective and perhaps the earliest to be composed, whereas Lesson 5 is positively forward-looking in its three-movement structure of Allegro, Larghetto and Allegro, which was still quite rare in England at the time. The other six lessons are all more transitional, starting with a non-dance movement but finishing with a dance. Lesson 5, besides its modern structure, contains an extraordinary passage in its slow movement, where the music gradually modulates up several semitones enharmonically from A minor to B flat minor to B minor to C minor to C sharp minor before settling back in A major.

Among the more modern influences that are present in these works, the most conspicuous is that of Domenico Scarlatti, whose first keyboard publication had appeared in London less than ten years earlier. Several of Nares's movements contain characteristic Scarlattian features, such as rapid scales and arpeggios, hand-crossing, wide leaps and sudden pauses. The first and last movements of Lesson 8 are particularly prominent in this respect. Nares's collection is in fact the first English one to show unmistakable signs of Scarlatti's influence.

The recording also includes a suite by Handel (hwv447), neatly placed in the centre between Lessons 1–4 and 5–8. Even though it was written less than a decade before Nares's ‘setts’, Handel's suite sounds distinctly earlier in style, partly because of its more sophisticated textures such as are typical of Handel's keyboard music. The inclusion of this work in the programme was an excellent idea, for it helps the listener to place Nares's lessons in context. The ‘setts’ stand up well against one of the finest English harpsichord compositions of the time, as well as sounding more modern.

The instruments used by Julian Perkins are a single-manual Kirckman harpsichord of 1764 and, even more appropriately, the double-manual royal harpsichord built by Burkat Shudi for Frederick Prince of Wales in 1740 (Handel's suite had been written for the prince's sister the previous year, and may have been played on this instrument). Perkins exploits the latter's various possibilities for variation in registration with considerable skill, and his performances are thoroughly convincing. He includes all the repeats throughout the collection, often adding tasteful ornamentation in the repeat (and occasionally in the first hearing). The speeds are all well judged, with sparkling allegros but sensitive and expressive playing in movements such as the G minor Largo of Lesson 3.

In the booklet the trilingual text offers ample information by Perkins about Nares and his 1747 collection, along with a lucid account of the instruments by Christopher Nobbs and a brief biography of Perkins. Finally, the back cover appropriately shows Philip Mercier's famous painting from 1733 of the Prince of Wales making music with his sisters. This first complete recording of these works would be a worthy addition to any CD collection.