The virtuoso violists return to the radical 17th-century soundworld of Matthew Locke. Plus, chamber works by Boulanger, Chaminade, Tailleferre and Smyth
• Never assume that because viol music, by its nature, is soft, it is therefore safe and gentle. On Consorts Flat and Sharp (Linn), their second album of music by the English composer Matthew Locke (c1621-77), the viol consort Phantasm, directed by Laurence Dreyfus, demonstrate Locke’s striking originality and his tendency to swerve from the mainstream, freely breaking rules of harmony and taste. Born in Exeter, he wrote music for the London stage and spent a turbulent time in Oxford as part of Charles II’s court, which had upped sticks en masse to escape the great plague.
Our ears may not be attuned to Locke’s radicalism, but the more you listen, the more his stylistic adventures draw you in. Phantasm, joined by Elizabeth Kenny on theorbo, here complete the Little Consort of Three Parts (1656), for treble, tenor and bass viols, and groups suites from that collection with three from the Flats Consort for My Cousin Kemble. You won’t hear this music done better.
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