The worlds of the crossover album and of the ECM music label don't overlap much, but this is a crossover album unlike any other released up to this time. For one thing, it deals with the Renaissance lute song, not a form in which new pieces have been written often. And for another, the vocal middle ground between Renaissance vocal styles and the rock background of the contemporary composers is unique. What is here are Renaissance lute songs from England and Spain, plus songs by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tony Banks of ...
Read More
The worlds of the crossover album and of the ECM music label don't overlap much, but this is a crossover album unlike any other released up to this time. For one thing, it deals with the Renaissance lute song, not a form in which new pieces have been written often. And for another, the vocal middle ground between Renaissance vocal styles and the rock background of the contemporary composers is unique. What is here are Renaissance lute songs from England and Spain, plus songs by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tony Banks of Genesis, and, at the end, Sting, expanding on his Dowland album of a decade ago. These may be put together in pairs or freestanding, according to their degree of similarity, and for variety there are a couple of songs by Peter Warlock and E.J. Moeran, each written in a kind of antique vein. Offhand it seems a strange concept, but it works very well for several reasons. One is the singing of John Potter and Anna Maria Friman, who strike just the right note: they move in the direction...
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.