Alfred Deller: Fols Songs and Ballads. Vol.1 (7 CD box set, FLAC)

Orchestra: The Deller Consort
Composer: Samuel Arnold, Luffman Atterbury, Joseph Barnby, Jonathan Battishill, et al.
Audio CD
SPARS Code: A-D
Number of Discs: 7 CD box set
Format: FLAC (image+cue) Enhanced
Label: Musical Concepts
Size: 1.82 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Disc 1:
01. Man Is For The Woman Made
02. Sir Walter
03. To Thee And To The Maid
04. Chiding Catch (“fie, Nay”)
05. Once, Twice, Thrice
06. When The Cock Begins To Crow
07. An Epitaph: “under This Stone”
08. Earl Of Mornington- T’was You, Sir
09. Jeremy Savile- Had She Not Care Enough
10. William Turner- Young Anthony
11. Anon., Publ. 1764- Amo, Amas, I Love As Lass
12. William Cornyshe- Ah, Robin
13. William Lawes- Bess Black
14. Anon., Publ. 1609- I Am Athirst
15. John Eccles- Wine Does Wonder
16. William Cornyshe- Hoyda, Jolly Rutterkin
17. Henery Purcell- An Ape, A Lion, A Fox, And An Ass
18. Anon., Coll. By Thomas Lant, 1580- Troll The Bowl
19. John Travers- Fair And Ugly, False And True
20. Anon., Publ. 1614 – We Be Soldiers Three
21. John Bennet- Hunting Madrigal: Lure, Falconers, Lure!
22. Henry Lawes- Sing Fair Clorinda
23. Benjamin Rogers- Restoration Pastroal: In The Merry Month Of May
24. Henry Purcell- Patriotic Song: True Englishmen
25. Reginald Spofforth- 18th Century Glee Club: L’ape E La Serpe
26. John Hilton- Call George Again
27. Luffman Atterbury- As T’other Day
28. Thomas Arne- The Street Intrigue
29. John Blow- Bartholomew Fair
30. Anon.- He That Will An Alehouse Keep
31. John Blow- The Self Banished
32. Anon.- Inigo Jones
33. Thomas Arne- Which Is The Properest Day To Drink
34. John Blow- Galloping Joan
35. Anon.- Sumer Is Icumen In
36. William Boyce- John Cooper
37. Henry Lawes- The Captive Lovers
38. Henry Purcell- Young Collin
39. Henry Purcell- If All Be True
40. Joseph Barnby- Sweet And Low

Disc 2:
0 1. John Cobb(Ed. D. Stevens): These Are The Cries Of London Town
02. Thomas Ravenscroft (Ed. D. Stevens): New Oysters
03. Richard Dering (Ed. D. Stevens): The Cries Of London
04. Thomas Ravenscroft (Ed. D. Stevens): A Bellman’s Song
05. Thomas Ravenscroft (Ed. D. Stevens): New Oysters
06. Thomas Ravenscroft (Ed D. Stevens): The Painter’s Song
07. Savage: Muffins Ho!
08. Richard Dering (Ed. H. Purcell): Country Cries
09. Anon. (Ed. D. Stevens.): A Quart A Penny
10. Anon. (Ed. D. Stevens): I Can Mend Your Tubs And Pails
11. Edmund Nelha (Ed. D. Stevens): Have You Any Work For The Tinker
12. Thomas Ravenscroft (Ed. D. Stevens): Brooms For Old Shoes
13. Thomas Weelkes (Ed. J. Noble): The Cries Of London
14. Luffman Atterbury: One A Penny, Two A Penny
15. William Lawes: She Weepeth Sore
16. Henry Lawes: Angler’s Song
17. Battishill:here On His Back

Disc 3:
01. Ca. 16th-17th C. -the Three Ravens
02. Ca. 16th-17th C. – The Cuckoo
03. Ca. 16th-17th C. – How Should I Your True Love Know (Ophelia’s Song From Hamlet)
04. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Sweet Nightingale
05. Ca. 16th-17th C. – I Will Give My Love An Apple
06. Ca. 16th-17th C. – The Oak Ad The Ash
07. Ca. 16th-17th C. – King Henry
08. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Coventry Carol
09. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Barbara Allen
10. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Heigh Ho, The Wind And The Rain (“twelfth Night”)
11. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Waly, Waly
12. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Down In Yon Forest
13. Ca. 16th-17th C. -mattehew, Mark, Luke, And John
14. Ca. 16th-17th C. -the Tailor And The Mouse
15. Ca. 16th-17th C. – Greensleeves
16. The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies
17. Lord Rendall
18. Sweet Jane
19. The Frog And The Mouse
20. The Seeds Of Love
21. Flowers In The Valley
22. Near London Town
23. O Who’s Going To Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot
24. Blow Away The Morning Dew
25. Sreaching For Lambs
26. Sweet England
27. Dabbling In The Dew
28. Strawberry Fair
29. Just As The Tide Was A-flowing

Disc 4:
01. An Acre Of Land
02. A Farmer’s Son So Sweet
03. The Lover’s Ghost
04. The Turtle Dove
05. John Dory
06. Greensleeves
07. The Jolly Ploughboy
08. Wassail Song
09. Down By The Riverside
10. Bushes And Briars
11. Just As The Tide Was Flowing
12. Ca’ The Yowes
13. My Boy Billy
14. The Spring Time Of The Year
15. Ward The Pirate
16. The Painful Plough
17. The Dark-eyed Sailor
18. The Cuckoo And The Nightingale
19. Loch Lomond
20. Thomas Campion: Shall I Come Sweet Love To Thee
21. Thomas Morley: Will Ye By A Fine Dog
22. John Dowland: Me, Me And None But Me
23. John Dowland: Wilt Tho Unkind

Disc 5:
01. First Book Of Airs, 1597: Wilt Thou, Unkind, Thus Reave Me?
02. First Book Fo Airs, 1597: Awake, Sweet Love
03. A Musical Banquet, 1610: In Darkness Let Me Dwell
04. Third Book Of Airs, 1603: Me, Me, And None But Me
05. A Pilgrim’s Solace, 1612: Go, Nightly Cares
06. First Book Of Airs, 1597: If My Complaints Could Passions Move
07 First Book Of Airs, 1597: Sleep, Wayward Thoughts
08. Third Book Of Airs, 1597: Flow Not So Fast, Ye Fountains
09. First Book Of Airs, 1597: Come Again! Sweet Love Doth Now Invite
10. Second Book Of Airs, 1600: Sorrow, Stay
11. If That A Sinner’s Sigh
12. Fancis Pilkington: Rest, Sweet Nymph
13. John Dowland: What If I Never Speed
14. Thomas Campion: Care Chariming Sleep
15. John Dowland: Shall I Use

Disc 6:
01. Second Book Of Airs, 1600: Fine Knack For Ladies
02. Second Book Of Airs, 1600: Flow, My Tears
03. First Book Of Airs, 1597: Can She Excuse My Wrongs
04. Anon.- When Cockleshells Turn Silver Bells
05. Anon.- An Eriskay Love Lil
06. Anon.- Peggy Ramsay
07. Anon.- Bushes And Briars
08. Anon.- Brigg Fair
09. Anon.- The Cruel Mother
10. Anon.- A Sweet Country Life
11. Anon.- The Bitter Withy
12. Anon.- Lang A-growing
13. Anon.- The Lover’s Ghost
14. Anon.- Lovely Joan
15. Anon.- She Moved Through The Fair
16. Anon.- A Brisk Young Lad He Courted Me
17. Anon.- Geordie
18. Anon.- The Western Wind
19. Anon.- Early One Morning
20. Anon.- Black Is The Color
21. Anon.- All The Pretty Little Horses
22. Anon.- Capstan Shanty: Lowlands
23. Anon.- William Butler Yeats (T) The Sally Gardens
24. Anon.- Thomas Moore (T) Bendemeer’s Stream

Disc 7:
01. Anon: Have You Seen But A White Lilly
02. Philip Rosserter: When Laura Smiles
03. John Dowland: Come Again! Sweet Love Doth Now Invite
04. John Danyel: Chromantic Tunes
05. Anon.- William Douglas Of England, 1685: Annie Laurie
06. Anon.- The Miller Of The Dee
07. Anon.- Cockles And Mussels
08. Anon.- Ben Jonson: Drink To Me Only
09. Anon.- The Foggy, Foggy Dew
10. Anon.- Frog Went A-courtin’
11. Anon.- The Turtle Dove
12. Anon.- Pretty Polly Oliver
13. Anon.- The Carrion Crow
14. Anon.- The Wife Of Usher’s Well
15. Anon.- Henry Martin
16. Anon.- Early Settlers Of De Kalb County, Texas: I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger
17. Anon.- Cold Blows The Wind
18. Anon.- Skye Boat Song
19. Anon.- From Cecil Sharp’s “english Folksongs Of The South Appalachians”: When The Sun Goes In
20. Anon.- Song Of A Wedding

Excellent but incomplete

I grew up listening to Alfred Deller’s “Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies” and one of his albums of Dowland’s lute songs, so I was excited to see this boxed set, and I looked forward to hearing the other albums included. The songs are mostly excellent (though “The Cries of London” didn’t do much for me — an entire album of street vendors hawking their wares) and performed with sensitivity and feeling.

Unfortunately, although this boxed set is billed as “The Complete Vanguard Recordings, Volume One”, it is definitely not complete. Disc 3 includes “The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies”, but while it includes all of the songs that Deller sings, it omits the instrumental pieces which the original recording interspersed with the vocal numbers. Deller’s voice is certainly appealing, but fourteen of his songs in a row (or 29 if you include the ones from “The Three Ravens”, which are also on disc 3) are a bit much for me. The interludes for recorders and other period instruments provided refreshing variety, besides being musically interesting in and of themselves.

It was nice of Vanguard to include a CD-ROM with the original liner notes and lyrics, but I would have preferred it had they left out the CD-ROM and included the extra instrumental material. It makes me wonder what was omitted from the other albums.