Flanders Recorder Quartert

I've been to one of their performances for the BEMF before, not the last one, but the one before that, iirc. This is a program I would enjoy, but I don't know if I will be able to attend the concert tonight...

Flanders Recorder Quartet

with
Susan Hamilton, soprano

The Darke is My Delight
English Consort Songs During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth

Boston Early Music Festival opens its 2006-2007 season with the return of the Flanders Recorder Quartet, who have astounded international audiences and critics alike with their “blazing speed, the sharpest ensemble precision and rhythm, intensely present sound, flawless intonation, clear and compelling phrasing, and a startling range of dynamics” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal). The four players—Bart Spanhove, Han Tol, Joris Van Goethem, and Paul Van Loey—and their magnificent collection of 150 recorders are joined by Scottish soprano Susan Hamilton for a program exploring the ethereal melancholy and melting harmonies of 16th-century English songs by William Byrd, John Dowland, and Thomas Morley on texts by William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Raised in the inspiring musical environment provided by her father Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth was passionate about music and cultivated the consort song in our court. The songs’ strikingly beautiful texts, expressive melodies, and floating rhythms symbolized the ideal of courtly love and showed a longing for refinement among England’s large and wealthy aristocracy, resulting in some of the most wonderful music ever created in England’s history.

Visit the Flanders Recorder Quartet website

Listen to Flanders Recorder Quartet (Anonymous: Estampie, Sweelinck: Ballo del granduca, Sweelinck: Pavana Lachrimae)

Read the Artist Biographies [coming soon]

Read the Program and Program Notes