Matthew Locke, England's leading composer in the 17th century, was also one of the busiest, writing for court, theater, and church. Surprisingly little of his music has been recorded, but this excellent recording helps correct this. The music has a strong emotional character, with dramatic, often pictorial harmonic effects that are less favored by today's choirs, but the quality of these works only makes us wonder why Locke is not better known.

This is a superb set of 5 CDs, covering works for viols by four 17the century English composers: John Jenkins, William Lawes (on 2 CDs), Matthew Locke, and Henry Purcell. It is a pure bliss for Baroque, especially chamber music lovers. The works recorded vary: fantasy, suite, pavan, consort, etc., but all are superbly performed by Fretwork Ensemble for 6 viols, sometimes accompanied by organ, spinet, and archlute. The quality of the recording is excellent: a 2001 remastering of previous various recordings done between 1986 and 1996.

Some of the connections with Venice may be a little tenuous, and this particular Winged Lion even circles over Spain clutching a Venetian guitar. The Palladian Ensemble's debut disc was called An Excess of Pleasure; the sequal offers nothing less! From two gutsy Vivaldi concertos via the dashing caprice of Santiago de Murcia's La Jota to a canzon by Cavalli which discharges itself in a haunting echo of Monteverdi's Lamento della Ninfa, the programme continually surprises and enchants. The playing too.

Award-winning Baroque violinist Rachel Podger takes the resurgence of the Arts in England post-1660 as the compelling inspiration for her new album, The Muses Restor’d. Adopting its title as its theme, Rachel and her vivacious Brecon Baroque take the listener on a journey of captivating violin-led chamber music from Jacobean to Early Georgian England. Ranging from the gentle intimacy of consort idioms to the full-blown instrumental virtuosity of the evolving Baroque period, this album uncovers little known glories of English instrumental music and its influences.

A profoundly modern dimension emerges from this confrontation between English works from the 17th century (Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke) and works from the 20th and 21st centuries (Philippe Hersant, Franck Martin, Thierry Pécou). Coming from highly different musical universes, each composition is, however, largely inspired by the founding themes of Shakespeares play, sometimes taking up excerpts from it. The text is recited in English, or rather Shakespeares Old English, as are all the sung parts, in order to reproduce the strong, sweet accent of that tongue.

In this recording, the expert violists of Phantasm return to the unconventional yet brilliant polyphonist Matthew Locke. Under the guidance of Laurence Dreyfus, Phantasm presents the second half of Locke's Little Consort, composed for treble, tenor and bass viol, and pairs it with three suites from the Flat Consort for my cousin Kemble whose unusual grouping comprises treble and two bass viols. Both sets are accompanied by a chordal bass instrument, in this instance the leading theorbo player Elizabeth Kenny. Locke's experimental, not to say libertarian, impulse pervades the works, and yet the composer remains grounded in the traditional ethos of strict counterpoint, standing as one of the last champions of the once treasured great polyphonic tradition. More than 400 years later, his music remains as fresh as ever.

Daniel Hope's new album "Dance!" reflects his boundless interest in the most diverse styles and periods of music. The star violinist takes the listeners on a journey through seven centuries of music history and explores the rhythms that have set bodies in motion and lifted hearts since time began.

"The Passion of Musick" heißt eine Fantasie des schottischen Soldaten und Komponisten Tobias Hume, die der neuesten CD der Blockflötistin und mehrfachen Echo Klassik-Preisträgerin Dorothee Oberlinger ihren Namen gab. Mit ihrem Ensemble 1700, dem Ausnahmegambisten Vittorio Ghielmi und seinem Gambenquartett »Il Suonar Parlante« gewährt Oberlinger Einblicke in die vielfältige »Private musick«, die in den unruhigen Zeiten im England des 17. Jahrhundert in eleganten Salons, aber auch in Pubs und Gasthäusern erblühte. Auf der Suche nach dem vielfältigen und farbenreichen kammermusikalischen Repertoire dieser Zeit folgen die Musiker dabei auch der Fährte, die die traditionelle, keltisch geprägte Musik im barocken Kunststil Englands, Schottlands und Irlands hinterlassen hat und zeichnen ein vielfältiges Bild der Musizierpraxis der Zeit mit Werken von unter anderem Tobias Hume, Henry Purcell, Nicola Matteis, Orlando Gibbons und Matthew Locke.

The "choice collection" of "music of Purcell's London" is of items such as might have been heard at the concerts of then contemporary music held on the premises of Thomas Britton, the "small coalman", surely one of the most 'unlikely' patrons in the history of music. It is in effect complimentary to the Palladian Ensemble's earlier disc (An Excess of Pleasure, also on Linn records), with another liberal helping of Matteis's various and sometimes agreeably bizarre Ayres and two more of Locke's Broken Consorts, which we find absorbing rather than confusing - as Charles II did…

For fans of Il Giardino Armonico's flamboyant flourishes and exuberant expressiveness, it's like having all your birthdays at once, being presented with this great Warner Classics 11 CD set. My own feeling is that this "free" approach to Baroque music is at its best when applied to the theatrical music of disc 8 or the seventeenth century Italian music on disc 1. The showmanship and playfulness is an absolute joy in many of those pieces. I'm less satisfied with the interpretations of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, (on discs 10 and 11), which require a different approach, I feel. I like my Bach to be a little more measured and subtle, I suppose. It has no need of the Il Giardino Armonico treatment. On the whole, though, I do love this set and wouldn't be without it.

The German soprano Anna Prohaska joins Alpha Classics for several recording projects. Her first recital brings together two superb African queens – Dido and Cleopatra – and follows them all over Europe during the first century of opera, from the 1640s to 1740. A firework display of arias, virtuosic and tragic by turns, written by the leading personalities of Baroque music (Cavalli, Handel, Purcell, Hasse) and composers still awaiting rediscovery suchas Sartorio, Graupner and the Venetian Castrovillari./quote]