This Danish release was recorded and originally released in 1988. It may or may not feature period instruments (the booklet, in extremely rocky English, says nothing about their origin), but it certainly features period graphic design. The sound is murky in the extreme, with the few Danish-language vocals getting completely lost in the mix. The booklet is sketchy and really inadequate in explaining what you're hearing, and the playing is pleasant enough, but far from crisp. What, then, made this disc worth a turn on the reissue go-round? Quite simply, it has unusual music played in an unusual way. To take the latter issue first, it's rare to hear a transverse flute instead of a recorder in ensemble music of the early sixteenth century. Yet the choice of the
Consortium Hafniense is bolstered by court painting of the early 1620s, apparently commissioned by Denmark's King Christian IV and reproduced on the cover of the album, that clearly shows a transverse flute being played. The rest of the group in the painting consists of a lute, a large viol, and a curious instrument that may be a bandora; that is how it is interpreted here. To this quartet the group adds a harp, not shown in the picture, but a reasonable choice. The repertoire is equally interesting. Drawn from Danish manuscripts of the time, it represents English composers, Dowland above all, more than Danish or Continental ones. The Dowland pieces are familiar, and the program testifies to the reach of the English style around 1720. But there are some rarities and curiosities as well. The piece called Il Canario, by Fabritio Caroso, shows the appeal of the new Iberian popular rhythms even in northwestern Europe. Particularly interesting is an anonymous piece called The Standing Masque (tracks 21), which is closely related to the Danish-language song heard on track 24; it's not clear which came first. The Danish works themselves, four of them by one Mogens Pedersøn, seem to be closely based on English madrigals and songs. No texts, in Danish or any other language, are provided. The album will be of more interest to students of the late Renaissance than to general listeners, but it marked a valuable contribution to the ongoing redisovery of the music of smaller countries during the era.