Xxi

Although Lawes died relatively young–43–he achieved a mature compositional stature, evidenced in every one of the "sets" on display here. He's particularly good at taking a melody and subjecting it to all manner of variation and imitative treatment, often developing wonderfully complex textures that somehow always maintain an ingratiating tunefulness. The Pavans are especially touching–notably the five-part C minor, inspired by Dowland's famous Lachrimae. The influence of the madrigalian Monteverdi is noticeable everywhere, in dancing rhythms and vividly expressive effects of bow articulation and colorful, sometimes unexpected harmonies. This is an exceptional collection–in rich, full-bodied, perfectly balanced sound that gives realistic presence to the instruments while allowing plenty of breathing room for strings and wood to properly resonate.

Couperin’s four dance suites of Les nations were published in 1726. Each is prefaced with an Italianate trio sonata whose music, for three of them, derives from sonatas which Couperin wrote during the 1690s. The fourth, introducing ‘L’impériale’, is a more fluently mature piece which he probably composed much later on. If the introductory ‘Sonades’, as Couperin called them, are Italian in their idiom, then the appended dances are characteristically and unmistakeably French. Jordi Savall brings the music to life with mediterranean warmth and an intuitive feeling for dance rhythms and their individual gestures.

Tomás Luis de Victoria’s OFFICIUM HEBDOMADÆ SANCTÆ is one of the most compelling examples of creative genius in a composer, a toweringly poignant and masterpiece on the Passion of Christ, a pure but infinitely subtle creation, Ad majorem Dei gloriam.