The Folger Consort celebrates 30 years in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library with This England: Music from the Time of Shakespeare, a compilation of three decades of music in a CD that shows why critics call the ensemble’s performances “breathtakingly beautiful… moving and spectacular.”
Artistic directors Christopher Kendall and Robert Eisenstein—along with a stellar line-up of guest artists—present some of the Consort’s finest offerings over the years, including country dances, songs from Shakespeare’s plays, music from court entertainments, and madrigals. The finale is a choirboy tune that mimics the street cries of Renaissance London and, as Eisenstein wryly observes, “contains some lines in the middle that do not seem to be choirboy material.”
“Looking back seems right for an ensemble that has been privileged to perform as long as we have,” he says. “We have enjoyed selecting these tracks from CDs and even a cassette (remember those?). It is gratifying for us to hear that these newly remastered digital recordings sound as good as they originally did and, in many cases, even better.”
Compact disk, Bard, 2006
Half Hannikin
It was a lover and his lasse
