Fretwork - English Music For Viols
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Music CD Cover
Artist: FretworkEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 2008-10-28
Music Label: Virgin Classics
Free Music Notes for English Music For Viols
Free Music Review: Amazing deal on a great introduction to English Consort Music
Hit: 5 Stars
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. At $16.98 this is an amazing deal 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). I have my own preferences for other versions than Fretwork's, such as Phantasm's recordings of the Jenkins consorts in 5 & 6 parts and both the Phantasm and Hesperion XXI versions of William Lawes' consorts in 5 & 6 parts. Phantasm's interpretations tend to be more cerebral, tense, and incisive, conjuring up a late Beethoven-like soundscape in these composers. Hesperion brings out a more stately, lyrical, singing quality to the music. The Fretwork recordings (if a bit like the Rose Consort's) 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 lambent (though best brought out with a high-end audio system). 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. I hope to see more bargain-priced releases like this to spread the word about this music.
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