Saturday, December 12, 2009

Fretwork - Music for Viols - Purcell, Lawes, Locke, Jenkins






Fretwork - Music for Viols - Purcell, Lawes, Locke, Jenkins
Chamber | Eac, flac, cue | log, cover | 5 CD, 1.63 GB
October 28, 2008 | Virgin Classics | RapidShare



The only thing that could make this 5-CD package more appealing would be a sixth CD!


English consort music is the first great body of instrumental chamber music in Western music, 200 years or so before the First Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. (some may disagree and award the 17th-century Italian chamber sonata repertory this honors, but I simply find the English composers more inspired). This 5-cd box set by Fretwork presents four later-generation 17th-century composers, Jenkins, Lawes, Locke, and Purcell - each with sublime musical offerings on these cds and a perfect introduction to 17th-century English consort music.

One would like to see a companion box set of earlier-generation consort composers such as Byrd, Dowland, Thomas Lupo, Gibbons, Tomkins, or Ferrabosco II (at least the first three of which have been previously recorded by Fretwork).

The Fretwork recordings achieve something different still - a measured, limpid or pellucid clarity that seems perfectly in character with the Englishness of these composers, in distinction to a more Italian or Mediterranean sound. But all of the Fretwork recordings are highly satisfying in their own right, and the recording quality is rich and plangent . Listeners will respond differently according to personal tastes. The more you are drawn into this music, the more you will want to compare different interpretations, and that's surely a measure of great music.


CD Content

Jenkins, John: Consort Music
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 4 in G minor
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in A major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in A minor
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in C major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in C minor
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in F major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in G major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 5 in G minor
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 6 in B flat major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 6 in C major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 6 in C minor
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 6 in F major
Lawes, William : Consort Sett a 6 in G minor
Lawes, William : Aires for 2 Division Viols in C major
Locke, Matthew : Consort of Fower Parts
Locke, Matthew : Duos (12) in Suites (4) for 2 Bass Viola da gambas
Purcell, Henry : Fantasia for 3 Viols in D minor, Z 732
Purcell, Henry : Fantasia in Nomine a 6 in G minor, Z 746
Purcell, Henry : Fantasia in Nomine a 7 in G minor, Z 747


2 comments:

  1. Make that sixth CD more Jenkins -he wrote a lot more music than Fretwork has recorded so far.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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