MAGIC
Byrd, Sweelinck,
des Prés, Bennet
etc
Flanders Recorder Quartet
& Friends
Opus 111 OPS 30-272 [65'31]
Crotchet
1. Recercada Primera Sobre El Passamezzo Antiguo & Recercada Ottava
Sobre La Folia (Ortiz)
2. Ye Sacred Muses (Byrd)
3. Estampie
4. Saltarello
5. Mille Regretz/Les Miens Aussi Brief (des Pres)
6. Pavana Lachrimae (Sweelinck)
7. Ballo Del Granduca (Sweelinck)
8. O Jove, From Stately Throne (Farrant)
9. Prepare To Die (Patrick)
10. Batalha (Araujo)
11. Scaramella Fa La Galla (Compere)
12. Scaramella (des Pres)
13. Complain With Tears
14. Eliza, Her Name Gives Honour (Bennet)
15. Recercada Segunda Sobre 'O Felici Occhi Miei' (Ortiz)
16. Recercada Segunda Sobre El Passamezzo Moderno (Ortiz)
This is a pleasing programme and its compilation was evidently a labour of
love. The Flemish recorder players are as good as any recorder consort I
have heard since the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quaratet raised standards and
expectations for this often humble genre of domestic music making.
The notes are jokey, but not without wisdom too. They aim at a concept of
'magic' and repudiate stuffy authentic pretensions - 'authentic,
schmauthentic', that's the tone. They claim to be seeking Magic Moments,
which happen with the coming together of 'the perfect connection between
composition, public and musicians in an attractive and acoustic space' -
something such as the happy experience I described at South Place
last Sunday
.
For a CD the equivalent is a well chosen and unique programme, rendered to
perfection by musicians in tune with each other, and supported by good
presentation. This one scores well on those criteria. Recorders take centre
stage, with a mellifluous counter-tenor soloist (Steve Dugardin) and a well
balanced male vocal quartet (Capilla Flamenca). It is good to have songs,
some familiar, others decidedly not, with recorder accompaniments instead
of a lute for a change. The sequence is predominantly of 16C. pieces, some
by the prolific anon, with a judicious input of cross-over with percussion
and improvisation from three exponents of different lutes (including
ud and p'i-p'a).
The programme runs smoothly for just over an hour and it goes well played
straight through, which often is not the case. Texts are supplied, but the
essays say little about the composers and their pieces; they are instead
more in the nature of mission statements for the assembled groups. This matters
little, and on the other hand there is a big plus for the excellent typography
(clear print, black on white) and the quite excellent codification which
makes it easy to know who (initials) is playing precisely what instrument
(numbers 1-17) in each track. Their method should be universal for this sort
of music.
Nothing jars; not a trace of the edgy difference tones frequently heard in
recorder consorts. I wondered whether post-production treatment was a factor
in this? We are not vouchsafed information about the recording date(s) or
venue(s).
Don't hesitate, it's a lovely CD.
Peter Grahame Woolf
