Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall - Holborne: The teares of the Muses 1599 - Elizabethan Consort Music, Vol. 2 (2000)

This release is titled as Elizebathan Consort Music, Vol II and we have already savoured the flavours of that previously immensely successful release which reads like a roll-call from the 'greats' of English 16th century music. This time Jordi Savall and his splendid Hesperion XXI have devoted a whole CD to the talents of Anthony Holborne, a rather obscure figure but one who evidently was held in great esteem in those days.
The music is succinctly varied and makes interesting use of some very intriguing string effects occasionally punctuated by soft percussion and organ. The soft delicate sounds of Savall's viola da gamba ensemble is indeed soothing especially in the reflective 'The teares of the Muses' and the suggestive 'Image of Melancholy'. Funeral music was also an Elizabethan speciality and this is demonstrated in the evocative 'The Funerals', a mournful but stringent piece of music strangely reminiscent of Purcell's ubiquitous 'Queen Mary' music.

The sumptuous sounds of the Galliards are also a distinctive feature of this recording perfectly re-creating the effect of an Elizabethan courtroom. I am also particularly fond of Rolf Lislevand's masterly lute playing, here he is joined by the equally magnificent Xavier Diaz. Pedro Estevan's knowledgeable percussion playing is also one to die for. Add all these master instrumentalists to a splendid recording and the usual sumptuous Alia Vox presentation and you definitely have one of the early music CD's of the year. -- Gerald Fenech