There is more than a whiff of nostalgia about this record, nostalgia for a style of performance, made popular above all by David Munrow, that (in the words of the sleeve-note) ''brings life to music from the Renaissance without resorting to a severe, museum-like reverence''. The choice of pieces here is also strongly reminiscent of the first days of the 'early-music boom' which Munrow did so much to promote and fashion; the focus then was largely on the marginal repertories—plenty of simple dance music, and bucolic songs delivered in a brisk, nasal, slightly out-of-tune style. For all our obvious indebtedness to Munrow's pioneering efforts, it was a highly selective view of the musical richness of the period, almost like knowing the eighteenth century through Mozart's German Dances and Haydn's baryton trios but without the symphony, the quartet, or the opera.
The truth of the matter is that quite apart from the partiality of the selection, much of what was recorded that is extremely limited in musical interest. The same could be said of this group of carnival songs (though not of Isaac's beautiful lament Quis dabit capiti meo), and in fairness to Bernard Thomas and the London Pro Musica it should be said that every legitimate means is employed to bring variety to a somewhat homogenous style. Different singing styles are used to characterize different types of piece, with the songs of the lanzi (mercenary soldiers in the service of the Emperor Maximilian) performed with plenty of hooting rusticity, while others (such as Ben venga maggio) are given in more well-bred tones. Variety is also secured by performing almost half the pieces on the record on instruments alone; one might quibble about the use of the viol, but the general principle is sound enough. Infuriatingly, the whole enterprise is undermined by the absence of texts and translations. It doesn't take a museum-like reverence to want to know what words mean in songs, and without any kind of assistance this record becomes just another short length of aural wallpaper evoking the 'Olden Time'.
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