Composer: John Adson, William Brade, William Byrd, John Hilton, Antony Holborne, Robert Johnson
Performer: Concerto Scirocco
Conductor: Giulia Genini
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Arcana
Catalogue: A523
Release: 2022
Size: 1.1 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Hilton: Fantazia IV
02. Johnson: The Satyrs’ Masque
03. Adson: Courtly Masquing Ayres: No. 20 – No. 21
04. anon.: Johney Cock thy Beaver: a Scotch Tune to a Ground
05. Hilton: Fantazia V
06. Brade: Paduana
07. anon.: Division Woodycock
08. anon.: A Division
09. Hilton: Fantazia III
10. Brade: Der Pilligrienen Tanz
11. Hilton: Preludio
12. Ashton, Whytbroke: Hugh Ashton’s Maske
13. anon.: The Tempest
14. Hilton: Fantazia II
15. Hilton: Fantazia I
Adson: Courtley Masquing Ayre
16. No. 16
17. No. 17
18. Brade: Canzon XVI
19. Brade: Coral
20. Byrd: Sermone Blando
21. Holborne: Almaine The Night Watch
Acclaimed for its “rhythmic verve, spontaneity and riot of splendid colours” (Pizzicato magazine on Giovanni Picchi’s Canzoni da Sonar con ogni sorte d’istromenti), Concerto Scirocco now immerses itself in the English musical scene of the Elizabethan era, and more especially the genres of the masque and the fantasia. Great cultural ferment swept through England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The courts invested huge sums of money in the production of “masques”, entertainments combining music, dance, theatre and stage design in a sumptuous display of grandeur. At the same time, the first public playhouses were founded in the suburban districts of London: “The Theatre”, “The Red Lion”, “The Rose”, “The Swan”, and in 1599 Shakespeare’s “Globe”. Music played a key role in accompanying this eccentric burst of cultural vitality: the asymmetrical Fantasias of John Hilton, the monumental Canzonas and Pavanes of William Brade, the impudent, rhetorical masques of Robert Johnson and others, reveal an era of unparalleled musical invention and exploration.