A lute ensemble was one of the most virtuosic and sophisticated sounds of the renaissance and early baroque, established in most European courts, and much prized among the wealthy and educated merchant classes. The individual lutes are all fully chromatic, polyphonic and have a wide dynamic palette; the whole ensemble has a five-octave range, and is therefore incredibly versatile. However, the repertory played by these ensembles survives only in fragments - individual pieces in printed collections, a scattering of pieces in manuscripts, a single print entirely for 3 lutes. Lynda Sayce has spent many years reconstructing this missing repertory following the precedents established by the surviving pieces, and this programme presents some original works alongside her arrangements. The result includes hauntingly beautiful intabulations of vocal works, sonorous polychoral pieces, intricate fantasias, and toe-tapping dances. Around half of the programme consists of music from the late Elizabethan and Jacobean court in London, whilst the remainder of the concert draws on European sources from the music publishing houses of Antwerp and Venice, from the Papal court in Rome, and the mercantile community of Amsterdam. Composers include John Dowland, William Byrd, Nicolas Vallet and Giovanni Gabrieli.

The music of:
Robert Parsons, Richard Allison, John Johnson, Peter Phillips,
Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Robinson, John Dowland,
Giovanni Pacoloni ,Giovanni Gabrieli &Nicolas Vallet