Monday, 11 December 2017

Locke - The Broken Consort etc. - Wayward Sisters


Rating: 3/5

Review:
Not the instrumentation for me



This is good music which is well played, but I do have my reservations.

Locke's music (from the mid 17th-Century) is very enjoyable; it is graceful and tuneful with real melodic and harmonic interest.  It is more usually played by a viol consort with other instruments, like my dearly loved old recording by The Parley Of Instruments under Peter Holman. 

Here, the Wayward Sisters play on recorder, violin, viola da gamba or cello and theorbo or guitar.  The recorder part is generally rather dominant and the other instruments don't really provide the richness of texture which gives this music such a lovely sound.  As a result, I find it rather unsatisfying; the ensemble plays very well but for me the music doesn't really gel as it should.

Others may feel differently, because this is a perfectly legitimate way of playing The Broken Consort and there is some good musicianship here, but my own response is to return to the Parley Of Instruments, and I can only give this a very qualified recommendation.

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