ORLANDO GIBBONS

 

Consorts for Viols

Phantasm

 

Laurence Dreyfus

Wendy Gillespie

Jonathan Manson

Markku Luolajan-Mikkola

 

"He was dead before he was 42 in 1625, apparently from a fit of apoplexy, and not quite a household name today; but Orlando Gibbons was a significant composer who also made a lasting contribution to the viol consort repertoire with his fantasias.

 

Gibbons was a brilliant keyboard performer too, yet his works lack the sort of flamboyance that might have been expected from a virtuso. Seemingly he he was a serious man, his character described by the scholar Margaret Glyn as. 'He never shouts in the market place; he sings as it were to himself, regardless of whether anyone is listening.'

 

True to the music, Phantasm don't shout either. But by intelligent interpretation of time-signitures and note-patters to determine tempos, and by within a cohesive ensemble, the introversion that is discernible to a greater or lesser degree in all these that some of them are transcriptions; for instance, the Pavan Lord Salisbury, considered 'unsurpassed in the entire field of virginal music' (Gerald Hendrie) remains unsurpassed in its new guise.

 

This is a superbly performed and recorded disc. Phantasm reinforce Glyn's belief that even a casual listener will be captivated by this voice of the post, an will keep on coming back to hear it again.'" Gramophone.