Customer Reviews

Romaria

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD, the third in ECM's Dowland Project, features tenor John Potter of the Hilliard Ensemble at his absolute best. The songs, written from the ~12th to ~15th centuries, are played and sung with a maximum of expression. They are certainly not period-accurate performances - that's simply not the point of the Dowland Project. The point is to bring new life to these centuries-old works in interesting and unexpected ways. Take the saxophone and bass clarinet solos, for example, played in the style of the original music, but not actually written into the scores. There is improvisation here as well. Many of the musicians are jazz artists, after all. So if you want to hear something like you've never heard before - something that I expect will blow you away, get this CD. Highly recommended for fans of medieval and renaissance music, jazz, and the Hilliard Ensemble.

I'm a painter, not a writer, so will refer you for details to the April 2009 review with which i concur entirely. Only to add that i prefer this cd over DP's also great Care Charming Sleep. Care still gets at least weekly play in the studio, but i've listened to Romaria virtually daily for a couple of years now and still get deep nourishment from both the music and the silences they conjure within the sounds.
Hoping DP will record more.

You have to appreciate early music, this is very authentic, even though a saxaphone is used. Some fun parts, some more spiritual in tone. Very skilled musicians, excellent if you like medieval music.