Elizabethan Consort Music, 1558-1603

Elizabethan Consort Music, 1558-1603
Alberti, Parsons, Strogers, Taverner, White, Woodcock, Anonymes
Hespèrion XX - Jordi Savall, dir.
Alia Vox AV 9804 [CD]

Contents:

    Innocentio Alberti
  1. Pavin of Albarti
  2. Gallyard

  3. Anon.
  4. In Nomine a 5

  5. Nicholas Strogers
  6. In Nomine III a 5

  7. Anon.
  8. Desperada
  9. Gallyard
  10. Allemande

  11. Clement Woodcock
  12. Browning my dear

  13. Robert White
  14. In Nomine V a 5

  15. Anon.
  16. Ronda
  17. La represa
  18. Gallyard

  19. Clement Woodcock
  20. In Nomine II a 5
  21. In Nomine III a 5

  22. Anon.
  23. Allemana d'amor
  24. Dance

  25. John Taverner
  26. Quemadmodum a 6

  27. William Daman
  28. Di sei soprani

  29. Anon.
  30. Pavana
  31. Brandeberges
  32. La represa

  33. Nicholas Strogers
  34. In Nomine IV a 6

  35. William Mundy
  36. O mater mundi a 5

  37. Anon.
  38. Pavana
  39. Gallyard
  40. Dance

  41. Robert Parsons
  42. In Nomine IV a 7
  43. The song called trumpets a 6
  44. In Nomine V a 7

Playing time: 66' 05"

Performers:
Hespèrion XX:
Jordi Savall (viol), Sophie Watillon (viol), Eunice Brandao (viol), Sergi Cadademunt (viol), Lorenz Duftschmid (viol), Juan Manuel Quintana (viol), Philippe Pierlot (viol), Guido Ballestracci (viol), Rolf Lislevand (lute), Xavier Diaz (lute), Michael Behringer (organ, harpsichord), Pedro Estevan (drum, trad. tambourines)
Jordi Savall, dir.

Recording site and date:
Colegiata del Castillo de Cardona (Cataluña), Spain [06/1997];
Rel.: 09/1998, 10/1998 (AV).

Excerpts:
[2], [18] Alia Vox AV 9853 Ludi Musici: The Spirit of Dance - L'Esprit de la Danse - El Espíritu de la Danza: 1450-1650
[5] Alia Vox AV 9811 [CD] La Barcha D'Amore. 1563-1685
[8] Alia Vox AV 9810 [CD] Harmonie universelle

Reviewed in:
Diapason (#-p.):
Early Music America (Vol./#-p.):
Fanfare (Vol./#-p.):
Goldberg (#-p.):
Gramophone (Vol./#-p.):

Comments:
Information from CD.

Pierre-F. Roberge

Although the first full consort of viols did not arrive in England until 1540, there were actually several intriguing examples of what are now called "consort" music from before that time. Of course, the homogenous viol consort became supreme, and the present program (also featuring some 2-lute arrangements) focuses on the first part of that repertory. This developed at Elizabeth's court in the 1570s & 1580s, among professional musicians, but based on relatively restrictive models.

Some pieces in the present program are composed freely, heralding the next step in consort development which, along with the small output of Byrd, allowed the English consort idiom to fully flower. Of course that was followed closely by the even larger and more famous repertory of consort music by composers such as Gibbons which was eventually geared more toward amateur players.

The next volume in Savall's new Elizabethan Consort series:

Holborne: The teares of the Muses
Elizabethan Consort Music, Vol. II
Hespèrion XXI - Jordi Savall
Alia Vox 9813

A couple of other good surveys devoted to the early end of the English consort repertory:

Four Temperaments
Byrd / Ferrabosco / Parsons / Tallis
Phantasm
Avie 2054
In Nomine
16th C. English music for viols
Fretwork
Amon Ra 29

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Todd M. McComb