Passamezzo - Tudor Christmas
MICHAEL DRAKE King of Hearts, Norwich
MICHAEL DRAKE
> King of Hearts, Norwich
The Renaissance Christmas celebrations ran from Advent to Candlemas at the beginning of February so it is probably reasonable the pace was not so frenetic as the present day.
And this lunchtime concert given by appropriately dressed Tamsin Lewis and Alison Kinder with a variety of 16th century strings and recorders backing counter-tenor Peter Luke Kenny was a delightful and popular way to spend an hour's respite from shopping.
Particularly was this so in the Nativity section, including the reading of a Drummond sonnet over violin and bass viol, where the singer showed he is more attractive in the higher register.
The programme livened to Christmas revelry, including one piece only recently discovered and transcribed by the group. Among the few items well known today in a programme solely from Britain was the effective Coventry Carol in which a Herrick poem highlighted the Wise Men's questioning. Completing these Tudor Christmas messages was Byrd's Adorna Thalamum Tuum - decorate your hall and rejoice - in different manner of course.
