Hark! hark! the lark

CDA66836

Recording details: April 1997
St Paul's Church, New Southgate, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: January 1998
Total duration: 69 minutes 31 seconds

'Performances are uniformly superb and often enhanced by imaginative or comic touches. Full marks to Peter Holman and his team for this delightful entertainment' (BBC Music Magazine)

'The best and most painstaking reconstruction of music from Shakespeare's theatres available on disc' (Sydney Morning Herald)

The English Orpheus

Hark! hark! the lark

Music for Shakespeare's Company

The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman (conductor)

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Hark! hark! the lark [1'03] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Paul O'Dette (lute)

Get you hence [2'00] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Julia Gooding (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Paul O'Dette (lute), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

The Tempest [1'33] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)

Where the bee sucks [1'15] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633) English
Julia Gooding (soprano), Paul O'Dette (lute), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

Full fathom five [3'01] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633) English
Julia Gooding (soprano), Catherine Bott (soprano), Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (baritone)

Tell me, dearest [1'59] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Julia Gooding (soprano)

Oh, let us howl [3'02] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

Care-charming sleep [3'54] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Paul O'Dette (lute), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

Almand in G major [1'48] Robert Taylor (d?1637), arr. Thomas Simpson (1582-?1628)

The Noble Man [2'26] Anonymous , arr. Johann Schop (d1667)

See the chariot at hand [3'30] Anonymous
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Paul O'Dette (lute), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

Take, O take those lips away [1'56] John Wilson (1595-1674)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Paul O'Dette (lute)

Arm, arm! the scouts are come in [2'51] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor)

'Tis late and cold [2'07] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Stephen Varcoe (baritone)

Come away, Hecate [2'46] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)
Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Catherine Bott (soprano), Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Julia Gooding (soprano)

The Witches' Dance [1'15] Robert Johnson (c1583-1633)

Suite in G minor Simon Ives (1600-1662)

Pavan [2'50]

Air [1'13]

Almaine [1'21]

Coranto [0'52]

The blushing rose [2'25] Anonymous
Catherine Bott (soprano), Julia Gooding (soprano)

A bonny, bonny bird I have [2'17] John Wilson (1595-1674)
Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Paul O'Dette (lute)

This lady ripe and fair [1'22] John Atkins (d1671)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Joseph Cornwell (tenor)

Pavan in G minor [3'28] Simon Ives (1600-1662)

Why so pale and wan, fond lover? [1'30] William Lawes (1602-1645) English
Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Paul O'Dette (lute)

Hence, all ye vain delights [3'05] John Hilton (1599-1657)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Mark Caudle (viol), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

A health to the northern lass [1'33] William Lawes (1602-1645)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Julia Gooding (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (baritone)

Suite in C major Simon Ives (1600-1662)

The Fancy [0'51]

The Virgin [1'17]

Bulstrode Whitelocke's Coranto [1'37]

Come, my Daphne, come away [1'59] William Lawes (1602-1645)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Paul O'Dette (lute), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

Somnus, the humble god [1'57] William Lawes (1602-1645)
Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Stephen Stubbs (English theorbo)

The cats, as other creatures do [1'37] William Lawes (1602-1645)
Catherine Bott (soprano), Julia Gooding (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (baritone)

The Wagge [1'51] Simon Ives (1600-1662)

Theatrical life in London during the first half of the seventeenth century was diverse and vibrant. 'The King's Men', as the group of actors for whom Shakespeare wrote most of his plays was known, employed many instrumentalist and singers and this recording is a survey of the works composed (as incidental music or as settings of sections of the plays themselves) by Robert Johnson, composer-in-residence, and his contemporaries between the years 1609 and 1642, when The Civil War brought a premature close to the activities of 'The King's Men'.

The Shakespeare plays represented here are Cymbeline, Macbeth, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale. Also we have settings from other contemporary plays by such authors as Beaumont and Fletcher, Jonson, Middleton and Webster.

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