O Lusty May

O Lusty May:
Renaissance Songs of Spring
The Toronto Consort
Dorian Recordings
(DOR-93172)

The seven-member Toronto Consort explores the many facets of spring with songs about romantic love, the thrill of the hunt, and nature's blossoming beauty. This diverse 22-track CD is comprised mostly of English and French music drawn from the later Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Divided into broken consort, voice, and solo instrument, this CD features the familiar tunes of "Now is the Month of Maying" by Thomas Morley (1595) as well as the works of minor English composers such as William Corkine.

Especially no table is "Engels Nachtegaeltje" (The English Nightingale) by the blind carilloner Jakob van Eyck (1646), which is beautifully played on solo recorder by Alison Melville. Equally pleasing are the pieces arranged for voice. Ranging from street cries to the polyphonic French chansons, The Toronto Consort sings with remarkable clarity, sharpness, and vibrancy.

One of the great pleasures of this CD, however, is its excellent sound quality and liner notes, which offer insight into the background of each piece. For instance, the anonymous 17th-century piece, "Joan to the Maypole," is an English broadside ballad (ie. printed with brief instructions that the words are to be sung "to the tune of..."). The song praises the May Day celebration, and survived in a collection of songs that had been printed in the early 1700s under the title, "Pills to Purge Melancholy."

Although the arrangements on O Lusty May are played with little improvisation, overall, the Toronto Consort's enthusiasm, passion, and musicianship make for a CD of exceptional sound.

--Ian Rotondi