The King's Delight: 17th Century Ballads for Voice & Violin Band [Import]

The King's Noyse (Artist), Samuel Scheidt (Composer), William Brade (Composer), Thomas Simpson (Composer), Michael Praetorius (Composer), John Whitfield (Composer), William Byrd (Composer), David Douglass (Conductor), Paul O'Dette (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Paul O'Dette
• Conductor: David Douglass
• Composer: Samuel Scheidt, William Brade, Thomas Simpson, Michael Praetorius, John Whitfield, et al.
• Audio CD (March 1, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
• ASIN: B0000007DZ
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,377 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The King's Delight

2. All In A Garden Green

3. Gathering Peascods

4. Blew-Cap For Me

5. Fortune My Foe

6. Browning

7. Jog On

8. Courante: Packington's Pound

9. Daphne

10. Huntsuppe

11. The Lovely Northerne Lasse

12. Tantz

13. O Nachbar Roland

14. Dulcina

15. As Att Noone Dulcina Rested

16. Grimstock

17. Robin Is To The Greenwood Gone

18. Ricercar: Bonny Sweet Robin

19. A Light Hearts A Jewell

20. Child Grove

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't get it. . .the singing is excellent!, June 29, 2004

By 

William Atkerson (Missouri City, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The King's Delight: 17th Century Ballads for Voice & Violin Band (Audio CD)

Other reviewers love the instrumental selections and berate the singing. Personally I find the purity of tone of the singer absolutely captivating. I do not hear any shrillness at all. The recorded sound seems ideal for this music, and all performers, singer and instrumentalists, are top notch, as is the selection of compositions on this CD. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle sounds such as these will always enjoy command over t, July 7, 2004

By 

Mr Russell S. Wollman "russwollman" (Fairfield, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The King's Delight: 17th Century Ballads for Voice & Violin Band (Audio CD)

The selections on this disc are quite nice, on par with "The Queen's Delight" disc also from the same artists.

The tone of some selections is a bit more serious perhaps, but I wish to offer that Ellen Hargis' fine soprano voice lends great magic and power to the vocal selections. And though I am sensitive to harsh or annoying sound, that is not, I found, the case with her work here. The ear of the beholder is all-important, of course, and we all have our preferences.

The graceful and elegant work of The King's Noyse will warm your heart, gladden your spirits, and engender your gratitude and curiosity for that unique period of time which gave rise to these ballads. Gentle sounds such as these will always enjoy command over time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "folksy", crossover approach to 17th century English music, April 29, 2006

By 

Leslie Richford (Selsingen, Lower Saxony) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The King's Delight: 17th Century Ballads for Voice & Violin Band (Audio CD)

"The King's Delight": 17th Century Ballads for Voice and Violin Band by William Byrd, Michael Praetorius, John Whitfield, Johann Schultz, Samuel Scheidt, William Brade, Thomas Simpson and various anonymi, including traditional pieces arranged by David Douglass. Performed by The King's Noyse (Ellen Hargis, soprano; David Douglass and Robert Mealy, renaissance violins; Jane Starkman and Scott Metcalf, renaissance violas; Emily Walhout, bass violin) and Paul O'Dette, lute and cittern.
Recorded in November, 1992, at the Campion Center, Boston, Massachussetts. Harmonia Mundi HMU 907101. Total time: 72'43".

Although the music here is highly entertaining in itself, this CD should really only be heard after studying Jack Ashworth's informative booklet notes, and preferably also with some knowledge of 16th and 17th century English music. This period in English musical history is generally associated with the "viol consort" in which a group of differently-sized "viols" or "violas da gamba" played together with the musicians sitting around a set of notes, sometimes accompanied by a recorder or voice. This kind of music is quite ethereal but probably does not reflect the reality of life in early 17th century England (the epoque of Shakespeare, Webster and Jonson). In recent years it has been established that not only the nasal-sounding "viol", but also the violin was played "in consort", and various musicians have gone about re-creating this sound. Among the first were The Parley of Instruments in England and The King's Noyse in the USA, who here present their first-ever disk containing so-called "broadside ballads", interspersed with dance tunes, some of which have been delivered down to us in manuscript, others of which are of more traditional nature and have been arranged by David Douglass for this particular variety of consort. There are also three solos by that miracle of lute-playing, Paul O'Dette, using a different instrument each time. The effect of the whole is quite "folksy", approaching in some ways a "crossover" approach. The gentle strings of the instrumental pieces are captivating, while Ellen Hargis does a great job of making her ballads sound as they might have done in a 17th century tavern, including using a regional English accent. Her singing is, of course, not always "beautiful", with some quite harsh leaps and the recording venue producing some pretty sharp echoing at louder points - not something everyone will appreciate, but definitely contributing to the "authenticity" of the recording, insofar as there can be such a thing with music from such a distant period. I purchased this CD because it was awarded "Disk of the Month" status in a German-language Early Music magazine.