Dorian Recordings

DOR-90023

The Best of The Baltimore Consort

Mary Anne Ballard, Viols, rebec, fiddle - Mark Cudek, Cittern, bass viol, bandora, crumhorn
Custer LaRue, Soprano - Larry Lipkis, Bass viol, recorder, crumhorn
Ronn McFarlane, Lute, bandora - Chris Norman Flutes, whistle, bagpipe, crumhorn, bodhrán

Guest Artists Heard on this CD
William Simms, Bandora (track 2) - Howard Bass, Bandora (tracks 3, 5, & 6)
Alice Kosloski, Alto (track 5) - Edwin George, Recorder (track 6)
Webb Wiggins, Harpsichord (tracks 7 & 9) - The Merry Companions Male voices (track 9)

Two musical traditions - one as old as the other is new - characterize this ensemble. The old one is the broken consort, a name given to the ensemble of instruments that entertained the Queen of England at the end of the 16th century. … What's new is the fire and punch of a jazz band or rock group.
In fact, two of the Baltimore Consort members have played in rock bands, and the group, writes Mary Anne Ballard, "now capitalizes on the similarities in compositional process between modern pop music and Renaissance 'broken consort' music."
The essentials are one or two melody instruments, something to play a bass line, and instruments that add harmony and enhance the texture and rhythm. "It's a basic ensemble you find in many different kinds of popular music," says Ballard, "beginning with the Elizabethan period. You would have found our kind of ensemble in the pit, so to speak, at a Shakespeare performance. Others who have the same outline are a bluegrass band and a Mexican mariachi band. There's something universal about it."
Ballard, who plays viols and rebec in the Consort, is a musicologist and guiding force who has been with the group since its beginnings. …
- Byron A. Nilsson

From Tunes from the Attic [DOR-90235]
1. Joyne Hands • Thomas Morley, 1599 1:27

From The Ladyes Delight [DOR-90252]
2. Howell's Delight • Anonymous, before 1635 3:56

From On the Banks of Helicon [DOR-90139]
3. In a garden so green • Anonymous Forbes, 1662 5:16

From Bright Day Star [DOR-90198]
4. Christmas Day in da Mornin' • Traditional, Shetland Islands 2:30

From On the Banks of Helicon [DOR-90139]
5. My heartly service • Anonymous Wode, 1562-c.1592 4:47
6. Scotch Cap • Anonymous The English Dancing Master, 1651 1:52

From The Art of the Bawdy Song [DOR-90155]
7. Cold and Raw • D'Urfey, c.1653-1723 3:58

From The Ladyes Delight [DOR-90252]
8. Robin is to the Greenwood Gone • Matthew Holmes MSS, c.1588-1597 3:17

From The Art of the Bawdy Song [DOR-90155]
9. Come, come, let us drink • Henry Purcell, 1659-1695 1:20

From Tunes from the Attic [DOR-90235]
10. The Mermaid's Song • Traditional 3:09
11. The Old Maid of the Mill Dust • Traditional 3:33
12. Jenny, My Blithest Maid • Samuel Akeroyde, fl.1684-1706 3:28

From A Trip to Killburn [DOR-90238]
13. A Trip to Killburn 4:02
14. The Joviall Broome Man 5:32

From La Rocque 'n' Roll [DOR-90177]
15. Branle double • Michael Praetorius, 1612 0:50
16. Branle de Montirande • Praetorius 0:57
17. Branle de la torche • Praetorius 1:24
18. J'ai vû le loup • Traditional 1:58
19. Mignonne, allons voir si la rose • Jehan Chardavoine, 1576 3:40

From The Mad Buckgoat [DOR-90279]
20. The Fidler's Contemt • Ruairí Dall Ó Catháin 1:48
21. The Kerry Star. A Reel • P. Carew's MS, 19th c. 1:07
22. The Goroum. A Reel • P. Carew's MS, 19th c. 1:32
23. Truagh (An Triúcha) • J. & W. Neal, Celebrated Irish Tunes, 1724 4:38

From Tunes from the Attic [DOR-90235]
24. Well Hall • Playford's Dancing Master, 1679 4:04

From Bright Day Star [DOR-90198]
25. The Wren Song • Traditional, Ireland 1:27

From a forthcoming CD of Scottish Renaissance Music
[Previously Unreleased Material]
26. Adew Dundee • Skene MS, c.1630-33 1:38

From the concert program "Crossing to the New World"
[Previously Unreleased Material]
27. Crossing to Ireland • Traditional, Scottish (from Nova Scotia) 3:20

Total Program Length: 77:30

Dorian Recordings & Dorian Discovery
are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading