Garden of Early Delights - Pamela Thorby & Andrew Lawrence-King - Hi-Fi Choice

Music: Pamela Thorby is one time recorder / player of the Palladian Ensemble (now the Palladians) which has a long history of recording on the Linn label, with considerable critical success. This recording is of a number of relatively short pieces in which she is accompanied by Andrew Lawrence-King on harp and psaltery. The programme is a ‘mixed bouquet of diverse, joyous, unusual and eloquent pieces' of medieval and baroque origin.

Sound: This recording sets a very high standard for sound and has a well-captured acoustic without being obviously resonant. The early instruments need to be handled with some delicacy and that is exactly what they get, the multichannel SACD layer clearly offering more than the Red Book option.