Garden of Early Delights - Pamela Thorby & Andrew Lawrence-King - Classic FM (South Africa)

The program spans the last part of the 16th and early 17th centuries at a time when composers were looking at ways of developing instrumental melodies without texts, they were imitating song forms and creating different techniques to convey emotion. The musicians of the time prized free melodic invention and players were challenged technically to develop as many tonal colours as possible with fairly limited instruments.

There is a fascinating and wonderful atmosphere on this production, just relax and be transported to another world. Composers were creating wonderful melodies a 180 years before J S Bach with far smaller instrumental forces. Pamela Thorby and Andrew Lawrence-King are masters at their art and know this era thoroughly, it is mind boggling to hear the very different qualities of the soprano, alto and tenor recorders and the rich and diverse harps played by Lawrence-King. "Weep you no more" composed by John Dowland can turn water into wine. An impressive audio experience - technically you will not hear better sound. However, a little of this can go a long way.