Two upon a Ground

Signum Classics SIGCD007

Early Music: A lovely feeling for line and performed with suitable panache

The Oxford Times: full of miniature gems and four-minute wonders

Gramophone

Seventeenth-century English domestic music for solo viols is hard to bring off but Charivari Agréable welcome us into their private recreational world with full-bodied textures and a delightfully elegant dialogue between bass viols especially. Simpson—the esteemed division pedagogue— is treated to some confident and sensitive playing, but Lawes's Pavan is the musical highpoint. A sunny disposition enhanced by an excellent recorded sound.

Tracklist

C Simpson: Divisions in A,F,F,G; T Tomkins: Voluntary,Prelude, What if a Day, Worster brawls; G Finger: Division in C, Sonata in G; J Jenkins: Division in C & A; E Gaultier: La pompe funèbre; M Locke: Fantazia, Courant; T Hume: Loves farewell, Pavan; W Lawes: Suite in g; H Purcell: Two in one upon a ground

Susanne Heinrich, Susanna Pell - treble & bass viols; Lynda Sayce - lute, theorbo & baroque guitar; Kah-Ming Ng - spinet, harpsichord & chamber organ