The Fantasie (1608) and Ricercari (1615) are the earliest of Frescobaldi's keyboard publications, and as neither has been issued complete before; to get both together, and at super-budget price, is treasure-trove indeed. Frescobaldi fanatics need read no further.
Vartolo's tendency to spin out the music at twice the length of most other interpreters can be rather off-putting, and doesn't always help the listener to grasp the overall design of formally complex pieces like the Toccatas. But these Fantasias and Ricercars are imitative, fugal pieces, more abstract in conception than the exuberant toccatas; recognising this, Vartolo avoids extreme tempi, and instead gives measured performances that gain in clarity what they have lost in eccentricity. These are (and this isn't intended to damn with faint praise) sensible performances, that give both composer and audience their due.
Vartolo loosens up a bit in the playful CanzoniFrancesi that conclude the book of Ricercars, but in this he follows the composer's lead, and demonstrates his own sensitivity to style.
Vartolo mostly performs on a modern copy of an Italian harpsichord, and on the organ of the Chiesa del Spirito Santo, Pistoia (built a few years after Frescobaldi's death). Suffice it to say that this recording would be a must-have at full price; as it is, you won't find better value anywhere.

Vartolo brings this music to life with a rhythmically flexible performance and a sharp articulation that makes those hewn themes really stand out.