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Mariners and Milkmaids The Toronto Consort Dorian Recordings (DOR-93247) In this collection of ballads, songs, and dances from 16th and 17th-century England, the Toronto Consort explores the everyday music of the common people. These songs were often written on the spur of the moment and set to already existing popular music of the day, performed in the streets for entertainment, during which crudely printed copies of the lyrics (called broadsides), were available for purchase. Covering subjects as varied as the attack of the Spanish Armada, the danger of pickpockets, the dashing exploits of daring criminals (and their subsequent executions), and political satires, these songs were the tabloids of their day, covering all the news that was not necessarily fit to print. The Toronto Consort has done a wonderful job of compiling these rarely heard pieces and performing them with verve, vigor, and a generous dollop of humor. From "The Cut-purse," with its jocular warning concerning the dangers of having one's pockets picked (even as one listens to the tune being performed in the street), to instrumental sea shanties and hornpipes, to the recruiting songs intended to inspire young men to enter military service, everything on the CD is a true delight. --Richad Mackenzie

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