Search - Peter Phillips, The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman :: Philips: Consort Music (English Orpheus, Vol 24) /Parley of Instruments

Instrumental music from the late 16th and early 17th centuries is not easy to find on disc--partly because the genre was just beginning to come of age during this period and, unlike vocal and choral music, there was not yet any great body of published repertoire. Regardless, if more of what exists were recorded-- what's on this disc, for instance--and more people got a chance to hear it, they would be pleasantly surprised and would want more of it. They'd be especially surprised at the sophistication of the music of Peter Philips, a virtually ignored English composer who lived most of his life in what is now Belgium. This music for viols and lute is equal in quality and sheer beauty to music by Philips's contemporaries Byrd and Dowland, and thanks to the efforts of the Parley of Instruments--their playing also will blow you away--we get to hear it and, yes, to want more. --David Vernier