Phantasm - Lawes: Consorts to the Organ - The Sunday Times

Dreyfus's commentaries on these 23 pieces are as detailed as they are passionate. He maintains that Lawes's inclination to musical rule-breaking - and, indeed, his "zaniness" - puts him high among the great originals. These two beautifully performed sets of fantasies, airs and pavans for viol consort with organ date from 1636-39, and are full of suave angularities and delicious dissonances, captivating for liveliness and melancholy alike. The five-part C minor Pavan (here spelt "paven") is triumphantly mournful and, for Dreyfus, "Lawes's masterpiece". The six-part B flat Fantazy is downright catchy, the first six-part Fantazy in F sternly imposing.