The Cries Of London / Paul Hillier
Label: harmonia mundi Catalog: 807214 Format: CD Fretwork; Theatre of Voices; Paul Hillier, conductorEnglish songs by Ravenscroft, Gibbons, Derling and East Theatre of Voices and Fretwork are heard in a selection of 'The Cries of London', in which music for viol consort is overlaid - and sometimes comically, sometimes poignantly - with the raucaus voices of 16th-century London's street-vendors, mendicants, tradesmen, river-taxis and town criers. The melodies, the rhythms and the pulse of daily life in the England of Shakespeare and Elizabeth I are made extraordinarily present in these works by composers from that place and time, including Orlando Gibbons (private virginalist to the Prince of Wales and organist at Westminster Abbey), Richard Dering, Thomas Ravenscroft (who as a teenager collected and published popular songs and ballads) and Thomas Weelkes (the organist at Winchester Cathedral). Familiar folk tunes such as that of "Three Ravens" also appear here, and dance-based fantasies for the viol consort round out the program. Price: $22.98 |