Search - John Bartlet, Thomas Campion, John Danyel :: What Then Is Love, An Elizabethan Songbook

What then is taste?

gaios33 | Berkeley, CA | 04/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The very reason I purchased this CD was the fact that it used reconstructed Elizabethan accents; attempts at accuracy are always preferable to bowing to popular misconceptions (like in Shakespeare in Love--ack). I found this recording both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating--one can clearly see through this recording the branch-off point between the modern British and American accents, something which had always mystified me before. Musically, this recording is full of little-known gems of the English Renaissance. This is a sample of what's on it, for Kenneth Melia: Sing a song of joy; Eliza is the fairest Queen; What then is love but mourning; Shall I sue; Heigh-ho holiday; I care not for these ladies; Mother, I will have a husband; Rest, sweet nymphs (a beautiful rendition with soaring harmonies on the chorus); and Sing we and chant it. Kenneth, if you still want a more complete list, just e-mail me (mitsuo@uclink4.berkeley.edu). But I insist that if you buy it now, without knowing all the songs, you will not be disappointed. They are subdued and genteel, with that hint of playfulness which one could say characterized the court under Elizabeth I. The vocalists are excellent, never succumbing to the operatic vocal style so popular with renditions of this repertoire, and, I think, the least authentic. Once again, Anne Azema charms with her supple, almost serpentine stylizations, and you also get a wealth of other talented vocalists who speak the Elizabethan tongue with convincing fluency. The instrumentalists play with passion and a feline subtlety that will catch you and never let go."