Buyers beware: this CD is being marketed as William Byrd Consort Songs when only seven of the 17 tracks fit the bill. Which is not to say that you will be disappointed by what you hear: both James Bowman and the Ricercar Consort are on top form and together achieve a beautifully blended sound. The choice of works - consort music with and without voice taken from sources contemporary with Byrd when not by him - fall into four categories (theatrical, courtly, sacred and elegiac) which are explored in turn. Listeners to the first track will, however, regret the omission of half of O death, rock me asleep, whose affecting text is associated with Shakespeare and Anne Boleyn.
Some will wonder at the decidedly slow tempos of nearly all of the tracks. And although the musicians consistently make a virtue of it, retrospectively one wonders whether certain of the more narrative texts might have been equally effective slightly quicker. However, the artistry of their ensemble in the final reprises and closing cadences always provide moments to savour.
The great virtue of the recording is, of course, the tuneful and psychologically attuned, skilfully crafted music of Byrd himself. Any fine line that may exist between consorts with and without voices all but disappears: in particular, the instrumental works seem to acquire by association a literacy not generally associated with the wider viol consort repertory. Bowman adjusts his voice to the instruments and the instrumentalists - especially the treble viol players, Pierlot and Watillon - make their instruments sing. Absent is the strong articulation their bows could make for other repertories, and in its place delicate understatement and elegance.'