Taracea: Seldom Sene

Contrast is the order of the day from Dutch recorder quintet Seldom Sene. Their “musical mosaic” was created by leaping forwards and backwards across the centuries through 20 pieces, using a total of nearly 50 instruments in the process.

The earliest piece is an arrangement of La Spagna attributed to Josquin; the most recent is Greek composer Aspasia Nasopoulou's prizewinning Lelia doura of 2012. The playing has an organ-like solidity that's more impressive in arrangements of instrumental works than of vocal music.

I particularly enjoyed the leap from the clean lines of the finale of Bach's Sixth Brandenburg Concerto into the tooting, chugging, puffing mid-1980s world of Frans Geysen's Omtrent A-B-C, which has a machine-like insistency that, musically speaking, yields Heath Robinson-ish results.

[ url.ie/x56m ]