The Locke Consort - John Jenkins: Fantasias & Airs (2002) [Hi-Res]

So-called "audiophile" labels tread a thin line balancing the promotion of their recordings' sonic benefits with the virtues of the repertoire. While a few listeners buy recordings more to show off their expensive sound systems than for any specific musical reason, most of us consider music first, then recording quality. I'm always skeptical of recordings that loudly (so to speak) tout their "super-multi-stream" whatever with attached stickers and pages of explanatory material telling you what you're supposed to hear. I've been to too many demonstrations where I was promised to be blown away, only to be left wondering if my hearing is really that bad.

Channel Classics certainly deserves the "audiophile" name--extraordinary attention to sound quality, involving a certain perfectionist fussiness in the quest for naturalness and realism is a defining feature of the label's philosophy. But alongside this sonic-consciousness is an equally determined musical integrity that at least draws a serious cynic like me to take a listen when a recording comes along boasting its "Super Audio" "Direct Stream Digital" "Multichannel surround sound" "Super Bit Mapping Direct" attributes both on its cover and in a special booklet enclosed with the liner notes. I can say without qualification that although this isn't the first CD in this format I've heard, it certainly got my attention like none of the others.

You don't even have to have a fancy multichannel SACD or stereo SACD player to appreciate the clear, natural sound and realistic room ambience captured on this recording, one of several such discs in the Channel Classics catalog. And the music--a collection of consort pieces by 17th-century English composer John Jenkins, performed by the Locke Consort on theorbo, baroque violins, and viola da gamba--is beautifully played, with appropriate tension in the bowing, well-shaped phrasing, solid rhythmic punctuation from the theorbo, and cleanly articulated runs and fast sections. This is music with generous amounts of color created by duet passages from the violins, a wide variety of voicings, and imaginative use of the plucked strings of the theorbo. There's also considerable rhythmic interest, supported by melodies that dance and sing at many speeds and in numerous moods.

The Locke Consort musicians are virtuoso soloists and first-rate ensemble players, and all of their skills are challenged in these highly developed, often florid works that are recorded here for the first time--and deservedly so. Audiophile devotees, here's another recording to add to your demonstration-disc shelf; for the rest of you who just love really fine music recorded really well, if you don't already have a demonstration-disc shelf, you'll probably want to make room for one when you hear this. -- David Vernier ~ ClassicsToday.com