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MUSIC AT THE COURT
OF CHARLES I
ANON
Come live with me and be my Love
So, so break off this late lamenting kiss
Goe and Catch a fallinge star
Dearest love I doe not goe
William CORKINE
Tis true, tis day, what though it be?
John HILTON
A hymne to God the Father
William LAWES (1602-1645)
Consort set in C minor
Nicholas LANIER (1588-1666)
Bring away this sacred tree
Stay, still heart
Amorosa pargoletta
Fire, fire
No more shall meads be deck’d with flowers
Richard SUMARTE (fl c1630)
Lachrimae
Paul Agnew, tenor
Christopher Wilson, lute and theorbo
Concordia, director Marl Levy
Recording dates and locations not provided. ?1997
METRONOME MET
CD 1038 [61.00]
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This compilation accompanied a National Gallery
showing of Charles I’s court painter Orazio Gentileschi whose
most famous painting, the beautifully composed The Finding of
Moses adorns the booklet cover. Metronome have chosen well from
their catalogue with mainly anonymous settings of Donne, a consort
set by Lawes, a Lachrimae by the little known Sumarte, and some
of Nicholas Lanier’s songs. The variety thus engendered says
something for the diversity of Caroline culture. The settings
of Donne are especially instructive, not least in the rapidity
with which they were set by his contemporaries – Donne became
Dean of St Pauls in 1625. Paul Agnew brings his accustomed tonal
and textual sophistication to bear on these settings, colouring
and shading his tone to amplify linguistic meaning and employs
a variety of inflective devices in so doing. Listen to his softened
"ghost" in So, to break off this late lamenting
kiss <sample 1>to appreciate the level of expressive
nuance he employs. Tis true, tis day, what though it be?
in a setting by William Corkine catches the swift wit of Donne’s
poem, its compass ranging from high to low voice, in a way which
other perhaps more confined settings do not. Of some historical
interest is the fact that Donne himself probably commissioned
John Hilton’s setting of his own poem, A hymne to God the
Father. Lawes’ Consort set is based on Dowland’s Lachrymae
but is infused with the new spirit of the age and is excellently
realized by Concordia. When Agnew turns to the first Master
of the King’s Musicke, Nicholas Lanier, he warms to the Italianate
brio of Amorosa pargoletta - listen to his splendidly
and dramatically rolled "r" <sample 2> in this
song maybe addressed to Artemesia, Lanier’s supposed lover during
his Italian travels. Lanier’s was a shadowy life. The Chaconne
bass of No more shall meads be deck’d with flowers brilliantly
highlights the conceit of the poem. Agnew’s excellent diction
generally renders texts unnecessary – but it would have been
good if Metronome had thought to provide them – and we can hear
him <sample 3> opening his voice and bringing to this
body of songs an immediacy and fluency truly admirable. Equal
praise to Christopher Wilson, who plays lute and theorbo, and
adds to the genuine pleasures of this disc.
Jonathan Woolf
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