PURCELL’S POLYPHONIC PARTY - An Invitation To Dance
Private Label WFM170901
I really enjoyed listening to this CD. Unfortunately my other half has appropriated it and has it on auto-repeat. I may have to get it back... This is another episode in John Dipper’s attempt to be in enough bands so that he can cover the whole range of folk music from the Middle Ages to the present day. It’s a delightful record, with great material from various editions of Playford’s Dancing Master, beautifully and imaginatively played and featuring some seriously enticing sounds. It’s aimed squarely at the Playford dancers’ market. (Why aren’t they called Playford’s Polyphonic Party?) A lot of research has gone into the dances, with the correct number of figure and exact metronome marks given.
So why go to all this trouble of spelling out the historical accuracy and then playing it on totally inauthentic instruments? John Dipper plays a modern violin-based viola d’amore rather than the contemporaneous viol based version; Vicki Swan plays nyckelharpa (that would have raised Purcell’s eyebrows!), bagpipes, flute, recorder and double bass; while Jonny Dyer provides harpsichord, piano, guitar, bouzouki and citole. For me the only one that doesn’t work so well is the very modern-sounding concert flute - a wooden, simple system flute would have done the trick. It reminds me of the days when Mike Barraclough used to call historically informed dances to the accompaniment of the saxophones and electric guitars of Pyewacket. So it’s not authentic. And when it sounds this deliciously good - who cares?! Love it.
www.purcelltrio.co.uk
Paul Burgess
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