Review: Fiddlers Three
Fiddlers Three: Music from Charles II's "Private Musick"
Musical & Amicable Society / Martin Perkins
Barn Cottage BCRo3o
Fiddlers Three: Music from Charles I's 'Private Musick'
King Charles II apparently really hated viols and wind instruments, and really loved the violin. One of his violin-centric court ensembles was called the Private Musick, and in the mid-17th century it was led by Thomas Baltzar, a transplanted German violinist who was also a gifted composer. A pavan by Baltzar is featured here alongside works by Davis Mell (another member of the Private Musick) and other pieces by composers of the period whose music would likely have been played in Charles II's court: names both familiar (John Jenkins, Henry Purcell) and obscure (Christopher Preston, Bartholomew Isaack, Lambert Pietkin). The program includes suites and fantasias and grounds in settings for a variety of instruments that includes harp, bass viol, and others, but generally with the violin at the center. The Musical & Amicable Society play with both vim and precision, and are beautifully recorded.”
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