L'Achéron - A Consort’s Monument - Baker & Taylor CD Hotlist

The last recording by L’Achéron celebrated the physical completion of a new consort of historically-accurate viols built for the group by Arnaud Giral; this new one is occasioned by the completion of a virginal and organ built to accompany those viols by the workshops of Jean-François Brun and Dominic Gwynn. The group’s first album focused on works by Orlando Gibbons, and this one pays homage to Thomas Mace, following many of the directions laid out in his treatise Musick’s Monument and drawing on compositions of many composers mentioned in that work. Thus we have pieces by Thomas Cooper, Alfonso Ferrabosco, John Deering, John Ward, and others of the period, both famous and obscure. L’Achéron plays with almost startlingly fine intonation and wonderful balance, and are beautifully recorded. For all early music collections.