Accendo
Music from the time of Claudio Monteverdi
Various composers

The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

Playing time: 62 mins.

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BBC Music Magazine, May 2001

It's remarkable how the addition of a couple of violins and voice to the now conventional cornet/sackbut ensemble enriches their available repertoire. There are several wind canzonas here, played with polish and disarming ease. But their tendency to sameness - of characteristic rhythmic opening, fast counterpoint, crisply tongued chords - is greatly relieved when they are contrasted with the striking antiphony of two violins set against four trombones in a Sonata by Buonamente, and above all the voice of Mark Chambers. He is one of the astonishing new breed of high countertenors who can knock off a soprano top A before breakfast. Three motets by Alessandro Grandi are riveting. There's more variety with two harpsichord pieces. One is by Byrd, tenuously drawn into this programme otherwise confined to Italy and Spain and a 30-year timespan, by sharing a tune with the Venetian Antonio Mortaro.

The booklet notes dwell on the music's power to raise the passions - 'Accendo' refers to kindling, arousing, inflaming ... The Ensemble lifts this music to an intensely expressive level, yet with taut intonation and thoughtful ebb and flow of contrapuntal lines. The sound, recorded in a London church, is exemplary.
George Pratt.

PERFORMANCE: * * * * *
SOUND: * * * * *

Classical Music on the Web, 2001

The luscious cover image of Venus amusing herself with Cupid and Music (Tiziano Vecellio) is matched by the pleasures of nigh perfect performance, recording and presentation of a happy sequence of late 16C and early 17C music for brass, played on authentic instruments of the period which, not many decades ago, were fickle and unreliable. I recall well marvelling at the skill of Don Smithers on cornetto at one of the first recording sessions of Italian cornetto music, for Argo in the late '60s.

This group plays with ease and a superb blend of tones, enhanced by the choice of venue (St Mary's Church, near my home in Blackheath) which combines just the right amount of resonance with clarity in the part-writing. Variety is introduced with strings and the counter-tenor Mark Chambers, who is suitably intense in Grandi's O Quam tu pulchra es (maybe just a little inclined to shrillness in the higher register, but not unpleasantly so) and sings his Salve Regina, at a lower tessitura, with suave beauty and poise, accompanied by cornettos and organ.

The selection is of composers who were colleagues of Monteverdi and might have influenced him. Useful information is supplied in brief about each of them. Ferrabosco and his son worked in England, and Byrd earns a place because Mortaro uses a tune from his Queen's Alman.

A particular pleasure is the simple and effective coding which makes it clear who takes part in each track and on what instruments. A winning collection which we have already played through several times.
Peter Grahame Woolf .

The Consort, Summer 2002

This is a beautiful disc. The well thought-out programme not only hangs together historically, but also offers the listener plenty of variety in terms of mood and colour. The pieces range from the war-like style of Buonamente via the deeply devotional songs of Grandi to secular dances, and are arranged for various combinations of cornetts and sackbuts, interspersed with works using violins, vocal pieces, and harpsichord solos.

The cornetts and sackbuts blend beautifully to create a warm sound. They play with impeccable intonation and a fine sense of ensemble. It is good to hear such clean playing combined with such persuasive musical expression. There is some very stylish playing from the cornetts and I was impressed by the rich, dark sackbut sound in the Ferrabosco's Quoniam tu, Domine. The brilliant violin playing includes some impressive divisions. The violin sound contrasts well with the more lyrical brass playing, especially in the Buonamente Sonata a 6, and when all the instruments combine, the balance of sound is just right.

Mark Chambers sings the three vocal works, by Grandi, tastefully and movingly, accompanied by a beautifully clear organ sound and some sensitive cornett playing. The harpsichord solos are played with panache by the director Robert Howarth, who achieves a deeply resonant sound on the instrument. Howarth is also responsible for the very readable programme notes in the CD booklet. He writes at the end: 'We have tried to bring passion and persuasion to our performance and hope that the listener will be in some way moved by our efforts'. The have certainly achieved this, and I would heartily recommend this recording.
Hazel Brooks.