I don't know why so many Baroque-era recordings have pleased me so much lately, but this Canadian disc is one of them. Countertenor Matthew White has a firm yet fluid and very clear sound in his selections by J.S. Bach, J.C. Bach, John Blow, William Byrd, and Purcell, and the instrumental group Les Voix Baroques supports him tenderly and assertively.
They also dig in with what I can best call authoritative tact in works by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Thomas Simpson, and Anthony Holborne. And that's one of the reasons I like this CD, come to think of it: the repertoire by both familiar and unfamiliar composers is out of the ordinary. It's a reminder that in the late Renaissance and early Baroque, music was as much a part of everyday life as it is today -- only it was made fresh for you by musicians, not piped in from a set of ubiquitous radio stations or MP3 downloads. White and Les Voix Baroques re-create that sense of something being made new and on the spot, and that's an achievement many bigger or well-known groups never manage.
Date:
Fri, 12/10/2004