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Fortune My Foe: Popular Music From the Period of the Gunpowder Plot The York Waits Beautiful Jo Records CD#: BEJOCD-48 A hearty doff of the hat to the York Waits, who commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot with the release of this CD, a conspiracy to blow up Parliament, along with King James I. Guy Fawkes, a leading player in the foiled scheme, was a York native who undoubtedly heard the music on this album performed in his own time. Organized in 1977 to research and resurrect renaissance instrumental music, on this recording the five-member ensemble are joined by two additional performers, who play more than a dozen antiquarian instruments, including lute, sackbut, recorder, bagpipes, shawm, harp, rebec, and hurdy gurdy. The 26 pieces on this album include ballads such as Henry VIII’s “Greensleeves,” dance tunes, and marches by the likes of Praetorius and Dowland and their execution on each piece is flawless. These exceptional musicians know the material and its historical setting and provide excellent, detailed liner notes. Whether one is interested in the audible dimension of a highly charged period in English history or in the music of the late Renaissance, this CD is sure to deliver. — Daniel Elton Harmon

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