Made of Melting Snow: Elizabethan Consort Songs

This collection of Elizabethan vocal and instrumenmtal consort pieces is an interesting concept, designed to illustrate the cultural sophistication and poetical awareness of the Elizabethan age. Its title is taken from the poem 'On Monsieur's Departure', possibly by Elizabeth I herself. The songs include works by Byrd, Dowland, Morley, Gibbons and Anon, and several of these pieces were new to me in spite of their composers' fame. The instrumental dances are from Johnson, Holborne, Bevin, Simpson and others.This is the first time I've encountered the Dutch-based early music ensemble Rayuela. They are undoubtedly a talented group although, as we will see, they don't manage to get everything right for this disc. The music is performed by soprano Andrea Lauren Brown, accompanied by three recorders, viol, lute/theorbo and keyboard. The instrumental playing is beautiful and virtuosic, with the three recorders adding a very distinctive character to the interpretations. However, this also has the disadvantage of lending a consistently high tessitura to the whole programme, which may well become tiresome to some ears. After a while I was longing for more variety of texture.A related problem arises with the soprano's singing. Ms Brown has a lovely, clear and steady voice, but it is also rather 'white' and characterless in tone. More seriously, her diction is not at all clear. The words are all vowel sounds while consonants are difficult, sometimes impossible, to discern; and so the listener needs to follow the printed texts studiously in order to have any idea of the meaning of each song. This is a serious weakness in a programme which seeks to illustrate the sensitive setting of poetic texts. Again, it would have been far better to have another voice or two to share the work in this collection.Having said all this, there are some fine works and lovely melodies here. Among my favourites are Byrd's 'Though Amaryllis dance in green' (track 2) and 'In fields abroad' (5); and a beautifully moving rendition of his Elegy on the death of Thomas Tallis, 'Ye sacred muses' (6). Morley's 'April is in my Mistress's face' (9) is especially fine, with superb instrumental work. Simpson's instrumental Almande and Ballet (9, 10) are also beautifully done. The anonymous 'The dark is my delight' (15) is also lovely, with more terrific recorder playing. But Gibbons' wonderful 'The Silver Swan' (17) again suffers badly from the singer's poor diction. There are many fine versions of this latter masterpiece available, my own favourite being The Spirit of Gambo's exceptionally beautiful rendition http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orlando-Gibbons-Mcfadden-Aleksandra-Anisimowicz/dp/B00MJFPVDU/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1458482647&sr=1-3&keywords=Silver+Swan+Gibbons.The drawbacks of this programme, as described above, are considerable. Its main assets, on the other hand, are its thoughtful concept, outstanding booklet notes on history, background and music, lovely instrumental playing, and the inclusion of several fine pieces which may be unfamiliar even to committed Elizabethan enthusiasts.