Compared with that of his successor Henry Purcell or even his predecessor Orlando Gibbons the music of mid-17th century composer Matthew Locke is infrequently performed. So this release by the viol consort Fretwork is quite welcome. CD buyers will get a picture of the musicians masked up for the coronavirus, another of a choir loft wall into which Locke carved his name in 1638, and a good deal of information about the music, but none about what is meant by the term "Flat Consort." (It seems to mean that the pieces in that ...
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Compared with that of his successor Henry Purcell or even his predecessor Orlando Gibbons the music of mid-17th century composer Matthew Locke is infrequently performed. So this release by the viol consort Fretwork is quite welcome. CD buyers will get a picture of the musicians masked up for the coronavirus, another of a choir loft wall into which Locke carved his name in 1638, and a good deal of information about the music, but none about what is meant by the term "Flat Consort." (It seems to mean that the pieces in that set were in flat keys or in A minor.) The five Flat Consort pieces alternate short but quite complex "fantazias" with more homophonic French dances, and they are interspersed with bass viol duos with a similar movement structure. Some of the pieces are peppered with pungent dissonances that seem to have fascinated the young Purcell, and overall, the atmosphere is cerebral and a bit mysterious. The dances do not lighten the mood much, and Fretwork does not try to perk them up. This is...
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