Fretwork Matthew Locke: The Flat Consort

Matthew Locke was born 400 years ago in 1622, and while he is often ranked as one of England’s finest composers, he is still unaccountably neglected: his music may not be as immediately appealing as his immediate successor, Henry Purcell, nor as wide- ranging as William Byrd, yet his forceful musical personality and luxuriant technique place him in the first echelon of English composers, with his works described by Richard Boothby of Fretwork as having a “quixotic, capricious restlessness that is constantly challenging the listener to follow his argument … a thrilling musical ride”. Accompanying Fretwork on continuo for this recording are David Miller (archlute and theorbo) and Silas Wollston (harpsichord).

In November 2022 Fretwork return for the second installment of their cycle of works by Matthew Locke.

This is a superb set of 5 CDs, covering works for viols by four 17the century English composers: John Jenkins, William Lawes (on 2 CDs), Matthew Locke, and Henry Purcell. It is a pure bliss for Baroque, especially chamber music lovers. The works recorded vary: fantasy, suite, pavan, consort, etc., but all are superbly performed by Fretwork Ensemble for 6 viols, sometimes accompanied by organ, spinet, and archlute. The quality of the recording is excellent: a 2001 remastering of previous various recordings done between 1986 and 1996.

Henry Purcell's Fantazias for viol consort came late to the game; written in 1680 and modeled to some extent after the work of Matthew Locke, the parade had gone by for the viol consort. Despite the fact that the Fantazias and In nomines stood as Purcell's main achievement in the field of chamber music, they did not appear in print until 1959 and weren't recorded until Nikolaus Harnoncourt waxed the cycle for a Vanguard LP in 1965. By the time of the tri-centenary observance of Purcell's death in 1995, quite a few ensembles had joined the game with new recordings, and that year Jordi Savall and Hesperion XX entered the fray with an Astrée recording so outstanding that it was hard to imagine how one could surpass it.