29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Elizabethan ragtime, July 21, 1999
This review is from: Fortune My Foe: Music of Shakespeare's Time (Audio CD)
If the etymology of "Dorian" is "of gold," that is the metal of the medal that should be awarded this company for yet another Renaissance winner! Prompted by the success of the films "Shakespeare in Love" and "Elizabeth," Dorian added to their superb catalogue two stunning vocal collections titled <Elizabeth's Music> (DOR-90015) and <The Ladyes Delight> (DOR-9052), giving us between them 53 tracks of the vocal and instrumental music of the day. So when I saw Dorian's latest release, <Fortune My Foe: Music of Shakespeare's Time> (DOR-93182), I thought: uh oh, they're pushing their luck. As it turns out they pushed my luck. I love it. Here a group that calls itself Les Witches (violin, recorder, lute, and harpsichord) treats us to 25 galliards, lute tunes, satyr dances, masque numbers and all those steps you keep hearing about in Shakespeare's plays--all played as if hot off the presses. And that is not a modern expression either. Most of these tunes were circulated among the public with words; but this group wisely chose to select music that was heard upon the stage "in order to turn this old repertoire into a lively entertainment." I am not quite sure what that last sentence from the essay in the booklet means, but the results speak for themselves. In fact, try an experiment. Put this CD into one slot on a multi-tray player and one of the Dorian ragtime CDs in another. Then program them to play the tracks alternately. The result will be quite revealing...especially for those who think that human nature changes.
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