Search - Thomas Campion, Drew Minter :: Campion: Elizabethan Songs

Pleasant recital of Dowland contemporary

Leslie Richford | 03/27/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There is little overlap between this Campion CD and the similar recital featuring another American countertenor, Steven Rickards, on Naxos. However if forced to choose between the two note that the Naxos release includes sung texts, while this one from Classical Express does not. On the other hand O'Dette is a more characterful lute player."

A voice teacher and early music fan

George Peabody | Planet Earth | 12/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE BEST OF DREW MINTER!



Thomas Campion (1567-1620) was a poet as well as a musician, and his songs definitely reflect this ability, for they could just as well be read as sung. Philip Rosseter ( his friend) states that his 118 songs were "superfluous blossomes of his deeper Studies," no doubt referring to his Latin poetry , or perhaps medicine, which was his profession.



What Campion did better than Dowland, or any other English composer of the day, was to "couple my words and notes lovingly together, which will be much for him to doe that hath not power over both." It is best to listen to them in order of priority to poem, melody and lastly singer. His melodies are simplistic and unadorned by shocking harmony designed to overpower the weight of the word itself.



T.S. Eliot was in no doubt about Campion's quality:"except for Shakespeare, the most accomplished master of rhymed lyric of his time."

The performance of these songs by Drew Minter (countertenor) accompanied by Paul O'Dette (lute) is really quite outstanding. I must say that this disc is so much better than Minter's other disc of lute songs "Sweeter Than Roses". His voice had a much clearer tone quality and he did not get 'nasal' or 'edgy' as he is prone to do. He kept his voice light and distinct with very neat diction. When he goes for a loud full sound like Michael Chance or David Daniels his voice is not pleasant to hear. But this album is very good and his emotional investment into each song was excellent. Just a very good LISTEN!!!!"

Serious Drawback

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 04/08/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Elizabethan Songs. Twenty-two songs by Thomas Campion (1567 ? 1620), performed by Drew Minter (countertenor) and Paul O?Dette (lute).

Recorded in November 1989 at Bethel United Church of Christ, Manchester, Michigan.

Harmonia Mundi. Originally issued as HMU 907023, now re-issued as part of the budget-price Classical Express series as HMCX 3957023. Total time: 58?23?.



Thomas Campion was a contemporary of both Shakespeare and Dowland and was a medical doctor who wrote poetry which he also set to music. Drew Minter performs twenty-two of these here with his inimitable coppery countertenor, a voice which is, in fact, very beautiful, but needs considerable getting used to if you are new to it. (Minter sings at alto pitch, but nobody would mistake him for a female!) He is accompanied by master lutenist Paul O?Dette, whose contribution remains fairly quietly in the background. The songs themselves are, of course, in Elizabethan English, making them rather difficult to understand. And this is where this CD suffers a serious drawback: the texts are not printed in the thin CD booklet; instead, there is a note saying that they can be downloaded from the internet, but when I tried to visit the site mentioned (on more than one occasion recently), the server was down, the address unknown. I nevertheless enjoyed listening, but without really knowing what Minter was singing so delightfully about. Campion?s melodies sound to my ear a little ?samish?, and I occasionally found myself wishing that the program had been interrupted by a lute solo or two.

"