COMPOSERS: Bach,Byrd,Conforti,Johnson,Merula,Palestrina
LABELS: L'OISEAU-LYRE
WORKS: Arrangements for Recorder Ensemble
PERFORMER: Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 440 207-2 DDD (1985-93)
The Loeki Quartet’s diversity of musicianship and technical skill is well represented by the performances on this reissue. Merula’s La Lusignuola and Robert Johnson’s The Temporiser sparkle impressively, while the sustained homophonic textures of Byrd’s Sermone blando or the more austere counterpoint of Conforti and Palestrina are expertly balanced. An arrangement of the final Allegro from Bach’s Third Brandenburg Concerto, and the 1950’s Amsterdam barrel-organ piece with which the disc concludes, are particularly charming additions. Nicholas Rast