COMPOSERS: Campion,Dowland,Ford,Morley,Pilkington & Anon,Rosseter
LABELS: Decca
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Elizabethan Lute Songs
WORKS: Works by Ford, Morley, Rosseter, Dowland, Campion, Pilkington &Anon.
PERFORMER: Peter Pears (tenor)Julian Bream (lute)
CATALOGUE NO: 444 524-2 ADD mono/stereo (1956/60)
Historically informed performance practice may have been a tiny glint in the eyes of very few musicians in the Fifties, but that other quality vital to convincing performance, the innate sense known as musicianship, was vastly present in the work of both of these musicians. Pears, light of voice and as acute of poetic response as was that other renowned mid-20th-century interpreter of lute-song, Alfred Deller, can still convince us of the immense worth of these gems. With his fine control of timbral light and shade and his combination of relishing word and maintaining pace he would indeed fare well in the field even today. Meanwhile, Bream provides support as delicate and strong as the cables of a suspension bridge. The sound – in mono for the 1956 songs – is fine for its age and there are only one or two obvious glitches where tapes are joined. Stephen Pettitt
Ford, Morley, Rosseter, Dowland, Campion, Pilkington & Anon
Historically informed performance practice may have been a tiny glint in the eyes of very few musicians in the Fifties, but that other quality vital to convincing performance, the innate sense known as musicianship, was vastly present in the work of both of these musicians. Pears, light of voice and as acute of poetic response as was that other renowned mid-20th-century interpreter of lute-song, Alfred Deller, can still convince us of the immense worth of these gems.
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:15 pm