Lawes (H) & Lawes (W): Songs

In early seventeenth-century England you couldn’t move for nymphs and shepherds. The brothers Henry and William Lawes, when not frequenting some local tavern, gave voice to every manner of Arcadian excess. Charles Burney did not approve, remarking that Henry’s music was ‘insipid for its simplicity’. Tastes change. Even Civil War and William’s death at the siege of Chester saw Henry (in his Pastoral Elegie to the memory of my deare Brother) exhorting ‘jolly shepherds’ to cease ‘their layes’.

Our guides into this world of escape—where fishing is the antidote to world-weariness—are Robin Blaze and Liz Kenny, acknowledged masters of the field.

CDA67589  70 minutes 48 seconds
‘This is a valuable anthology, carefully conceived and lovingly executed … Robin Blaze is heard mostly at his considerable best … the true foil to Blaze's eloquence is Kenny's sensitive and ...
‘The Lawes brothers tend to be thought of mainly as composers of instrumental consort music, but this outstanding disc reveals them in a fascinating new light as highly accomplished songwriters … ...
‘I find it impossible to imagine better exponents of this idiomatic music than Robin Blaze and Elizabeth Kenny. Blaze has many gifts: not only a perfectly-tuned and controlled voice, but one that is i ...