Musique pour consorts de harpes

Description

Written between 1630 and 1640 for the chamber of King Charles II of England, William Lawes’s Harp Consorts are the only surviving testimony of the practice of the brocken consort (a mixture of several families of instruments), combining the harp (specifically) and bowed string instruments. The young ensemble Il Caleidoscopio offers us a lively and colorful interpretation. The timbres of fingers and bows on the strings blend wonderfully thanks to the variety of the musicians’ playing, and the choice of works (William Lawes and Matthew Locke) gives us a fine glimpse of the richness and subtlety of early 17th-century English music. Pieces by Willian Byrd, originally written for the virginal (here on the harp), by Christopher Simpson for the viola da gamba, and by John Playford for the violin (Faronell Division, the English name for the Follia) complete the seduction of the listener through the virtuosity and warmth of their performance. (Jean-Michel Hey)