Search - Alamire :: Great Music from the Court of Henry VIII

A Little Lacklustre

P. M Simon | New Mexico | 07/24/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Details of the recording: Music for lute and clavichord, and vocals ostensibly from the court of Henry VIII, himself the composer of over half the cuts. Alamire directed by David Skinner.

Recorded in the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford

with Lynda Sayce, lute Martin Souter, clavichord.



Technical review: Uninspired. Technically competent execution of a lot of quiet pieces is well done but directed and arranged without any seeming theme or zest for the compositions involved.



Comment: Not the A-list Tudor tracks, for certain. No major composers of the period are on board. I understand this is from a real manuscript and the agenda was probably slavishly followed. What makes it on the CD is thus an unflawed but also uninteresting rendition of uninspired works.



In short, this IS an interesting work for a music history buff but others may want to give it a pass unless they need help napping.

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