Fun, frolicsome and utterly delightful!
Brianna Neal | USA | 11/29/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The six member Baltimore Consort combines voice, wooden flute, recorder, bagpipes, rebec, lute, viols, cittern and Baroque guitar into a "broken consort" (a group of instruments that are not all the same kind)(obviously) to whip up spirited improvisations of popular Renaissance ballads and dances from England. A "Playford tune" is one that was published by John Playford in 1651 in his musical anthology, "The English Dancing Master". What is particularly wonderful to those familiar with English Country Dancing is to hear soprano Custer La Rue sing some of the ballads related to favorite dance tunes. Especially fun are "The French Report", "The Joviall Broome Man", "The Famous Ratketcher", and "The Beautiful Shepherdess of Arcadia". If you like these ballads, you may also enjoy the Baltimore Consort's "The Art of the Bawdy Song", with guest singers the Merry Companions, as well as the Toronto Consort's album "Mariners and Milkmaids: Ballads and Dances from 17th-Century England"."