In his consort music, Lawes tries out many original ideas, both formally and harmonically. Some ideas are more successful than others, but there is certainly plenty to hear. All in all, some of the sections are among my favorite for the era, while others are less worthwhile. Although there are other recordings available, these two now combine a definitive program with the strongest performance yet.
The performance is extremely good, perhaps the most impressive viol consort renditions appearing on disc to date. The Fretwork performances were striking when they appeared, but this one is just so much more emphatic & compellingly shaped, not to mention the greater range of color, etc. This statement is not meant as a condemnation of Fretwork, since they also continue to improve their technique and would probably easily exceed their previous Lawes programs (of around 10 years earlier) if they were to re-record them now.
Lawes' music marks something of an end to my interest in consort music. After him, the music loses its dynamism, partly due to the Civil War. Locke's works are not bad, but have little in particular to recommend them, and there are some lesser composers of that period as well. Finally, Purcell wrote the last such works in his fantasias, apparently all dashed off in a couple of weeks. Many have expressed amazement over the technical devices in Purcell's fantasias, but ultimately they sound to me just like what they are, unpublished works written quickly as exercises of little polish and shallow inspiration.
I have treated the two "volumes" here together, for obvious reasons, although they were not released together. They seem naturally to form a set, and indeed prior to the release of the 6-part recording, I had openly lobbied in this space for such a program. At this point, it seems it would be very difficult to improve upon this (joint) selection. One point of strangeness, however, is Phantasm's handling of the organ parts. Dreyfus argues that they are unnecessary (which is a sensible argument), and then adds a few phrases to the viol parts (rather odd).
Todd M. McComb