Works by Byrd, Dowland, Purcell, Ravel, Jean-Luc Ponty et al
Mike Fentross (theorbo), Maarten Ornstein (clarinet), Hilary Summers (contralto);
Dudok Quartet Amsterdam
Zefir ZEF9701 46:33 mins
Since its launch in 2022, the madcap, genre-bending ensemble Circus Dinogad has taken its audiences on a series of quirky and highly entertaining musical adventures, led by the Welsh contralto Hilary Summers. Their latest recording is an exuberant mish-mash of musical miniatures that defies definition, taking the listener from village-green revelries to smoky jazz clubs, from courtly entertainment to giddy end-of-pier frolicking.
Summers runs the gamut of her unconventional but highly expressive three-octave range. In her haunting, unaccompanied opening ballad, ‘I will give my love an apple’, she is a countertenor, sexless and aethereal; later, she blooms into a gorgeously sensuous high mezzo in Purcell’s ‘Sweeter Than Roses’. She relishes words, caressing and projecting every syllable, and brings theatrical panache to the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, 40-second vignettes threaded through this musical medley, bitingly arch and hilarious.
And what a fine and innovative instrumental ensemble this is, led by the Dutch theorbo and bass clarinet duo Mike Fentross and Maarten Ornstein, working in tandem with the Dudok Quartet. They move seamlessly through the ages, masters of every musical language they perform: Irish jig, Scottish folksong, Welsh lullaby, Renaissance lute songs, each piece layered with an improvisatory twist. Above all, they know how to have fun. I laughed out loud several times.
