Various composers: Crystal Tears, Works by Dowland & his contemporaries

Andreas Scholl’s voice was made for the intimate, often melancholy world of the English consort song. Four viols and a lute join him in a programme weighted towards the songs of John Dowland but with a sprinkling of other composers, including William Byrd, John Bennet and Robert Johnson. The recording was made at the end of a concert tour, so the performers are very much at ease with each other and with the music. Accompaniments are imaginative and vary from lute alone to plucked and bowed viols, sometimes all three, as in Dowland’s Now, O now, I needs must part.

Scholl has always had an affinity with music of a gentle and doleful nature, but the passion he injects into Ferrabosco’s Four-note pavan is unexpected. Dowland’s Go crystal tears is exquisite, and Come, heavy sleep benefits from vivid word-painting and warmth of tone. The more up-beat numbers are equally good: a swagger infects Though Amaryllis dance in green, and the whistled refrain of John Bennet’s Venus’ birds may haunt you afterwards, especially if you also watch the performance on the bonus DVD. This DVD, though short, contains interesting footage of the artists rehearsing and recording. The instrumental playing throughout is a joy to listen to, the songs being interspersed with lute solos and viol fantasias.

The Concerto di Viole were also involved in Scholl’s 1998 recording of German baroque cantatas, which has recently been reissued by Harmonia Mundi at mid-price as part of their hmGold series. It is interesting comparing Scholl’s voice ten years ago with its qualities today; while it was a very lovely and individual sound then, now it possesses a wider range of warmth and expressiveness. His English pronunciation may occasionally be a little quaint, but don’t let that put you off buying this gem of a disc!