Lawes Royall Consort Suites, Volume 2
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: William Lawes
Label: Gaudeamus
Magazine Review Date: 6/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDGAU147
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Royall Consorts, Movement: No. 2 in D minor |
William Lawes, Composer
Greate Consort William Lawes, Composer |
| Royall Consorts, Movement: No. 4 in D |
William Lawes, Composer
Greate Consort William Lawes, Composer |
| Royall Consorts, Movement: No. 5 in D |
William Lawes, Composer
Greate Consort William Lawes, Composer |
| Royall Consorts, Movement: No. 8 in C |
William Lawes, Composer
Greate Consort William Lawes, Composer |
| Royall Consorts, Movement: No. 10 in B flat |
William Lawes, Composer
Greate Consort William Lawes, Composer |
Author: Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
It was an unexpected delight 18 months ago to review, in quick succession, two recordings of Lawes’s gloriously evocative and graceful set of dance suites. The Purcell Quartet and The Greate Consort (ASV, 3/96) – the former producing the complete Royall Consorts in one go – have between them restored these works to a level of public awareness which they certainly enjoyed in their day: sources reveal both wide dissemination and choice movements undergoing pragmatic quasi-transcriptions to cater for changing tastes as the century progressed. Whilst Lawes’s larger-scored Fantasias show us the theatricality of the composer’s bold contrapuntal language and in the early ‘violin’ sets, the textural interplay typical of a more self-conscious concertante style, these formalized dances give us yet another view of the composer: the broody cavalier reflecting, in exquisitely fashioned thematic strains, the unequivocal decorum of musical conceits in Charles I’s cultivated time-bomb of a court. What I admired above all in Monica Huggett’s approach in Vol. 1 was the variety of expressive nuance through the faintest of manipulations; though restraint and a dignified plasticity of line (especially ravishing in the D minor and B flat Suites), I was forced to conclude that the rich vocabulary of ‘complaint’ in Lawes’s Consorts glowed that little bit brighter here than in the Purcell Quartet’s warm-hearted and candid accounts.
Volume 2 is really more of the same, in terms of the more delectable qualities which characterized the performances of the first volume, even if the major-key music here demands rather more extroversion. The soft-grained and unforced string timbre of The Greate Consort is underpinned by delightfully subtle and undemonstrative theorbo playing. For some, the characterization in, say, the Aires of Consort No. 4 will seem a touch under-explored but given the Pavan’s wonderful concentration of seamless allusions, gently passed back and forth, the sense of an integral suite is strongly and vitally projected. Maybe in such an obvious group-effort it is invidious to pick out individuals but English consort music is often more treble-dominated than we might think. Monica Huggett leads by example with tonal sweetness and exemplary musicianship. Rare qualities indeed, and treasure from which she has effected chamber music playing of the very highest quality. As hoped, an even more outstanding issue than Vol. 1. Highly recommended.'
Volume 2 is really more of the same, in terms of the more delectable qualities which characterized the performances of the first volume, even if the major-key music here demands rather more extroversion. The soft-grained and unforced string timbre of The Greate Consort is underpinned by delightfully subtle and undemonstrative theorbo playing. For some, the characterization in, say, the Aires of Consort No. 4 will seem a touch under-explored but given the Pavan’s wonderful concentration of seamless allusions, gently passed back and forth, the sense of an integral suite is strongly and vitally projected. Maybe in such an obvious group-effort it is invidious to pick out individuals but English consort music is often more treble-dominated than we might think. Monica Huggett leads by example with tonal sweetness and exemplary musicianship. Rare qualities indeed, and treasure from which she has effected chamber music playing of the very highest quality. As hoped, an even more outstanding issue than Vol. 1. Highly recommended.'
Lawes Royall Consort Suites, Volume 2
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.