William Lawes (1602-1645)
Consorts de harpe

John Playford (1623-1686)
Faronells Division on a Ground
Duke of Norfolk or Pauls Steeple

William Byrd (1543-1623)
Pavane "The Earle of Salisbury"
Galliarde
The Bells

Christopher Simpson (?1602-1669)
Divisions en mi mineur "for the practice of learners"

John Dowland (1563-1626)
Prélude en sol mineur

Matthew Locke (1621-1677)
Suite IV "For several friends"

Ensemble Il Caleidoscopio

Lathika Vithanage, violon
Noelia Reverte Reche, viole de gambe
Flora Papadopoulos, arpa doppia
Michele Pasotti, théorbe, luth

Écrites entre 1630 et 1640 pour la chambre du roi d'Angleterre Charles II, les Harp Consorts de William Lawes sont le seul témoignage qui nous soit parvenu de la pratique du brocken consort (mélange de plusieurs familles d'instruments) mêlant la harpe (nommément) et les instruments à cordes frottées. Le jeune ensemble Il Caleidoscopio nous en offre une interprétation vivante et colorée. Les timbres des mains et des archets sur les cordes se mêlent à merveille grâce à la variété des jeux des musiciens, et le choix des œuvres (William Lawes et Matthew Locke) nous offre un bel aperçu de la richesse et de la subtilité de la musique anglaise du début du XVIIème siècle. Des pièces de Willian Byrd, originellement écrites pour le virginal (ici à la harpe), de Christopher Simpson pour la viole et de John Playford pour le violon (Faronell Division, dénomination anglais de la Follia) finissent de séduire l'auditeur par la virtuosité et la chaleur de leur interprétation. (Jean-Michel Hey)

Il Caleidoscopio is a bright young earlymusic ensemble based in Milan, and this is their debut album, featuring not the usual fare of trio sonatas and concerti grossi from their native country but a musical journey around 17th-century England, centred on the London of Byrd and Playford, which was indeed one of the musical capitals of the world at the time. Their international outlook reflects their membership: the Australian Lathika Vithanage (violin), Noelia Reverte Reche from Spain (viola da gamba) and Flora Papadopoulos from Greece (harp), joined here by the lutenist Michele Pasotti. They have already given concerts at the major early-music festivals in Rome, Milan, Ravenna and farther afield. The album is themed around the chamber music of William Lawes, who moved this genre forward in England in the first half of the 17th century. He was equally the leading composer of dance, and of music for drama (including the masque), in the period 1630/45. Doubtless his career would have been even more distinguished had he not died in battle at the Siege of Chester in September 1645: King Charles mourned him deeply, and declared him ‘Father of Musick’. Listening to the serene and lively progress of these dances, so assured in harmony and fertile in melodic invention, who would disagree? Not that Lawes overshadows the other distinguished names here, whose various pieces complement the harp-consort genre employed by Lawes. Locke’s consort No.4 is subtitled ‘for several friends’ but Byrd’s magnificent ground The Bells is originally for solo keyboard, while Dowland’s D minor Prelude is for lute and Christopher Simpson’s E minor Divisions are for solo gamba, ‘for the practice of learners’ but rich in the melancholy of the age.