Anthony Rooley writes: ‘Even in 1926 when Peter Warlock published his brief essay on the English Lute Songs, John Danyel was singled out as being perhaps the finest lute-song composer (John Dowland not excepted) by perceptive Warlock. Nobody believed him then and not much has changed now – but I agree with Warlock. John Danyel […]

Renaissance secular music between 1480 and 1620 is large in quantity, high in quality, rich in colour, diverse in form and very different in content from a similar time-span of any later period with which we may be more familiar. This set of four compact discs provides a comprehensive survey of sixteenth-century secular music. Composers […]

Anthony Rooley writes: ‘“Amorous Dialogues” perfectly describes this unusual repertoire – although the variations on the theme of erotic love familiar to all of us tells the basic story of amatory exploits, desires and dreams in fresh ways. For example, can we be expected to believe that “He” doesn’t know what a kiss is and […]

Weber’s operas surface reasonably regularly in opera companies’ repertoire around the world as do his Clarinet Concertos and Clarinet Quintet. So it is a joy to welcome to CD for the first time, a recording of his songs, specifically selected for reissue by Christopher Hogwood. It was recorded with the young Martyn Hill in 1976 […]