At first sight there
seems to be no connection between the
title of this disc and a large section
of the programme. Only the extracts
from Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo and
the solo aria by Sigismondo d'India
seem to have anything to do with Orpheus,
the mythological singer who enchanted
friend and foe with his art. But there
is more to the myth of Orpheus than
the character itself and the stories
about him, in particular his love for
Euridice and his journey to the underworld
to bring her back to the world of the
living. In the baroque era Orpheus became
the symbol for belief in the power of
music. And at the end of the 16th century
attempts were made to recreate the ancient
declamation which was thought to be
the key element of Greek tragedy. The
monodic style was the direct result
of this ideal. Most pieces in the programme
illustrate the 'declamatory' style in
musical composition of the early 17th
century.
Although John Dowland
seems to have met Giulio Caccini, who
pretended to be the 'inventor' of monody,
during his stay in Italy, he can't be
considered a composer of 'monodies'.
But his songs are strong evidence of
the ability of music to express human
emotions, which was the main goal of
the Italian monody. One of the most
famous and impressive examples is his
song 'Flow my tears', which ends the
programme. Dowland also made a setting
for viol consort, 'Pavana Lachrymae',
and an anonymous arrangement for keyboard
of this setting opens the disc. It is
only one of the many arrangements of
this piece in the early 17th century,
not only in England, but also on the
Continent. It is best known for the
descending tetrachord with which it
begins. On this disc the arrangement
is immediately followed by the Prologue
from Monteverdi's first opera L'Orfeo,
which contains the same motif.
The items by Hume and
Caccini and the 'air de cour' by the
French composer Pierre Guédron
also strongly express human emotions,
even without being sung. The first two
songs by Tobias Hume, which are played
on viols and on harpsichord respectively
illustrate the point further. It strongly
depends upon the players whether the
expressive character of these pieces
is brought out, and the interpreters
on this disc certainly know how to do
that. All the instrumentalists involved
are excellent performers who are fully
aware of what they are dealing with.
In Charles Daniels they have found an
outstanding singer with a wide experience
in early music. His voice reminds me
of Nigel Rogers', the English tenor
who has done so much for the exploration
of early 17th-century music, in particular
the Italian monody. Sometimes I felt
the emotion in Daniels' interpretations
could be a little stronger, but on the
whole I am very impressed by his singing.
Guédron's 'Quel espoir de guarir'
and Dowland's two songs are among the
highlights.
The tracks follow each
other without interruption. This creates
a strong sense of unity within the programme.
For the most part it works pretty well,
but sometimes the changeover from one
track to the next is less than satisfying,
for instance from the Lamento from Monteverdi's
L'Orfeo to Dowlands song 'Flow my tears'.
And D'India's Lamento d'Orfeo starts
when the sound of the harpsichord which
played Picchi's Toccata is still dying
down, which is acoustically a little
awkward as the harpsichord takes a back
seat all of a sudden.
The concept of this
disc is well thought-out, and there
is enough variety in the programme to
keep the listener's attention. With
both music and interpretation being
of first-rate quality I strongly recommend
this disc.
Johan van Veen
Charles Daniels, tenor (*) 
