COMPOSERS: Hume
LABELS: Astrée Auvidis
WORKS: Musicall Humors 1605
PERFORMER: Jordi Savall (bass viol)
CATALOGUE NO: ES 9919 Reissue (1983-97)
Tobias Hume was a soldier by profession, who had fought in campaigns in north and north-east Europe. When he retired he took up music, championing the viol somewhat to the detriment of the lute, thereby incurring the anger of Dowland. The pieces on this reissued disc are taken from the first of Hume’s two published collections, The First Part of Ayres issued in 1605. All of them are for unaccompanied lyra viol, a term which refers, at least in this instance, less to the instrument than to a particular style of chordal playing. Jordi Savall’s feeling for gesture and lively sense of drama bring the music to life at every turn. Indeed, his playing is of an imaginative order which lifts the repertoire out of an exclusively specialist category. Nicholas Anderson
Hume: Musicall Humors 1605
Tobias Hume was a soldier by profession, who had fought in campaigns in north and north-east Europe. When he retired he took up music, championing the viol somewhat to the detriment of the lute, thereby incurring the anger of Dowland. The pieces on this reissued disc are taken from the first of Hume’s two published collections, The First Part of Ayres issued in 1605. All of them are for unaccompanied lyra viol, a term which refers, at least in this instance, less to the instrument than to a particular style of chordal playing.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:22 pm