Album

Composer Philip Rosseter was a contemporary (and friend) of Thomas Morley and Thomas Campion. Given the enduring affection for the culture of the Elizabethan era, especially in England, it may seem surprising that this disc of lute songs and solo lute pieces is the first recording devoted completely to his works. The explanation for his relative neglect perhaps has to do with his texts, which are a step below those set by Morley or John Dowland. Rosseter sometimes seems to have had a rhyming dictionary handy (if there were such things in Elizabethan times): "It is the heavens' bright reflex/Weak eyes to dazzle and to vex/It is the idea of her sex/Envy of whom doth world perplex." Rosseter became a lutenist to King James I, and the solo lute pieces here are perhaps the strongest: the Fantasia, track 3, is in the mold of and a worthy companion to Dowland's chromatic pieces.

The performers give the absolute best account of Rosseter's music. Lutenist Matthew Wadsworth has a real gift for drawing an audience into an intimate environment, even on a recording; he keeps tempos on the slow side and hangs back just a bit from the beat, even in the dances, without producing mannered performances. Tenor James Gilchrist has a clear, attractive sound, superb diction, and a real sense of how to express the syntax of the text. At times this syntax is a bit tortured, but at other times, such as in the simple title track (track 11), he brings the listener fully into the orbit of the young lovely who "with her divine beauties/all the world subdues/and fills with heav'nly spirits my humble muse." Note that the track numbering of the texts (in English only, although notes are in French and German as well) does not correspond to the tracklist or the actual ordering of pieces on the disc itself. This is a superior performance of middling music, recommended to Elizabethan enthusiasts or to singers looking for offbeat Renaissance material.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Philip Rosseter Composer Sweet, Come Again Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
1	Sweet, Come Again	3:41			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer And Would You See My Mistress' Face, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
2	And Would You See My Mistress' Face, for voice and lute	2:38			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Fantasia Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
3	Fantasia	6:08			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer No Grave for Woe Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
4	No Grave for Woe	3:16			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Reprove Not Love, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
5	Reprove Not Love, for voice and lute	2:56			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer What Then Is Love but Mourning Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
6	What Then Is Love but Mourning	2:14			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Pavin, for lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
7	1	6:48			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Galliard No.3 of the Countess of Sussex, for lute Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
8	Galliard No.3 of the Countess of Sussex, for lute	1:44			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Galliard, for lute Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
9	1	2:08			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Though Far from Joy, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
10	Though Far from Joy, for voice and lute	2:21			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer When Laura Smiles Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
11	When Laura Smiles	3:01			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Kind in Unkindness, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
12	Kind in Unkindness, for voice and lute	4:27			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Prelude, for lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
13	Prelude, for lute	1:27			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Pavin, for lute Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
14	2	6:47			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Galliard, for lute Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
15	2	2:38			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Almayne, for lute Work Matthew Wadsworth Lute
16	Almayne, for lute	2:00			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer If She Forsake Me Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
17	If She Forsake Me	1:59			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Shall I Come If I Swim? Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
18	Shall I Come If I Swim?	2:13			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer Whether Men Do Laugh or Weep, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
19	Whether Men Do Laugh or Weep, for voice and lute	1:44			$0.99
Philip Rosseter Composer What Hearts Content, for voice and lute Work James Gilchrist Tenor, Matthew Wadsworth Lute
20	What Hearts Content, for voice and lute	2:24			$0.99