Echoes of Love and Loss
French Baroque Lute Masterpieces
Echoes of Love and Loss, lute
A415 Music CD000
★★★★
The late 16th and early 17th centuries were a golden age for lute music, marking the instrument’s peak in popularity and artistic development across Europe. The lute, with its delicate pear-shaped body and intricate gut strings, became the favoured instrument of both court musicians and amateur players. It was celebrated for its versatility: it could accompany singers, support dance or stand alone in expressive solo repertoire. No longer, I fear. It has become very much a niche instrument, so it pays to own your own record label, as does Shaun Ng with A415 Music.
Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium in the lute, along with the violin and viola da gamba, Shaun has made the lute his instrument of choice and this, his first CD, displays his abilities admirably. The four composers he has chosen – Ennemond Gaultier, Jacques Gallot, François Dufault and Pierre Dubut – are all French from the golden age and the works are mostly the standard stately court dances, allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue and chaconne, with the occasional canari thrown in and, of course, all starting with a prelude. Lute music from this period is characterised by counterpoint, ornamentation and subtle harmonic progressions. It encapsulates the refined aesthetic of the Renaissance: a balance between intellect and emotion, or, as the title of this CD states, Echoes of Love and Loss.
If you are a lover of the lute, you will surely love this collection.
By Michael Morton-Evans