What the critics said:

In the music business, some of the most respected critics, and indeed those who's respect can be hardest to earn, are our fellow musicians.

Click HERE to watch a short commentary by David Hurley of The King's Singers made during a collaboration with HMSC in 2007.

MUSIC IN THE UNIVERSITY

THE ITALIAN ORGAN PROJECT

HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTTS AND CORNETTS

BUCCANEERS: MUSIC FROM  ENGLAND AND SPAIN

KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL

Sunday, 21 February 2010 

Since none of the music in Sunday night’s programme was from Italy but rather from England or Spain, this was something of a move away from the core of the Italian Organ Project; however since  the Italian Chamber Organ featured notably throughout the programme this proved to be a fine demonstration of the versatility of the instrument. The term “Buccaneers” in the title of the concert was an apt one. We even heard two pieces by John Dowland dedicated  to one Captaine Digorie Piper who was indeed a famous buccaneer. However the further significance of this word pointed to the fact that only one piece in the programme, John Hingeston’s Fantasia a 2 was scored with tonight’s instruments especially in mind,  the others were in a sense “pirated”. While we cannot be sure that the rest of the pieces were “authentic” considerable evidence does exist that music of this period was regularly performed in a variety of ways whether for voices, keyboards or other instruments.  In any case music’s first purpose is surely enjoyment in listening and I am certain that every one of the composers whose music was played tonight would first of all have been astonished that it was still being listened to some four hundred years after it  was written and they would have been amazed and delighted with the way it was performed in this concert.

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts is one of the finest ensembles playing early music today. Their virtuosity shone through everything they played. They were joined by their friend Roger B.  Williams on both the Italian Chamber Organ and the Aubertin.

Television chefs are always ranting on about how certain foods are “special friends. What they mean is that that they go particularly well together. Well, the organ is the “special friend”  of the brass ensemble and even more so when early instruments are involved. Sometimes, in fact, the blend was so perfect that you had to listen very hard to disentangle the sounds of the chamber organ from the rest of the ensemble, in the Pavan by Peter Philips  or the Ave Virgo Sanctissima by Francisco Guerrero for instance. In the Galliard ‘Dolorosa’ by Philips however the voice of the organ was more clearly heard and its contribution in a higher register to In nomine a 5 by Orlando Gibbons was a special delight.

Of course both the Italian Chamber Organ and the Aubertin seized the spotlight in a series of solos played by Roger B. Williams. First there were the two lively Spanish Dances (Spagnioletta)  by Giles Farnaby played on the Chamber Organ. Then on the Aubertin, there were the marvellous Fantasia ‘Faire Wether’ by John Munday which in its special way predates Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony by around two hundred years and later, a wonderfully rousing  performance of William Byrd’s Earle of Oxfords March where Roger made the organ itself sound like a magical simulacrum of a brass ensemble.

All the pieces played by the ensemble members were highlights but there is not room to mention them all so I will pick just a few items which really delighted me. There was the chattering counterpoint  between cornett and sackbut in Palestrina’s Vestiva I colli. The cornett as we heard in many of the pieces is well suited to pouring out dazzling free flowing cascades of notes but I was impressed when this was matched on the sackbut by Adam Woolf, not an  easy thing to accomplish.

The duo of cornetts in music by Correa de Arauxo followed by the two sackbuts in music by Selma y Salaverde both gaining antiphonal effects played from the gallery sounded amazing. The Batalla  del sexto tono by Ximénez had the instruments calling to one another in echoing imitation across the battlefield contrasting with the gentle sounds of Pereat Dies by Diego Ortiz.

The concert ended with Adam Woolf’s special arrangement which brought together all the performers in weaving together Greensleeves with a Ricercar by Diego Ortiz as well as some lively dance  tunes: a fabulous culmination to the performance component of the Italian Organ Project.    

Alan Cooper. J.

This is a fine, and fun, addition to the early brass recording canon. The playing is expert and musical, varying from tear-inducing to energetic, and Faye Newton has a nice, clear, early-music type of voice which both blends with the brass, yet rises above them when needed. Of the group’s nearly 20 albums, this has quickly become one of my favorites.

--Paul Schmidt, Historic Brass Society - review of Music for the Twelve Days of Christmas...

'the playing is nothing short of exquisite. A breath of fresh air' from a review of our Grillo CD

'This consort is the pre-eminent group of its kind: they are brilliant advocates for the extraordinary variety of styles, moods and genres to be found in instrumental music of the 16th and 17th century...There is a technical assurance and sensitivity of the kind one might expect from a fine string quartet' (Classic FM)

***

'These players demonstrate perfectly how a balance of scholarship and expert period performance can restore familiar music to such radiant good health that we wondered how it ever survived before. Unanimity of articulation, gently tapered phrase endings and the soft fluency of two cornetts combine to give rare pleasure' (BBC)

***

'This group is now the longest established and most respectable ensemble of its kind in the world. With such an interestingly varied program - rich in sound, impressive in technique and often subtle in expression - it is easy to be enthusiastic' (Historic Brass Society)

***

'From the glistening virtuosity of its opening through a bewildering patchwork of lyrical solos, dazzling passagework, and imitative antiphonal exchanges...the effect is electrifying' (Fanfare)

***

'One only has to experience the variety of timbre, articulation and expressive nuance to realise that HMSC are, first and foremost, fine and imaginative chamber musicians' (Gramophone)

***

'The sound is crystal clear...the playing is immaculate: beautifully crisp and clean'... 'witty but unfussy playing' ...'consistently approachable'... 'These masterful performances are alive with authentic detail... a rare and unforgettable sound'... 'The balance between all the instruments is managed with almost flamboyant ease'... 'They are experts in control and subtle simplicity as well as virtuoso decoration'...'The beauteous playing sweeps one away into a feeling of nobility and calm such as only really first rate brass music can achieve'