Thomas Campion may be seen as a poor relation to Dowland and his exquisite lyrical world, but in truth he is as unique, in his way, as the great melancholist himself. Poet first and musician a close second, Campion’s perspective is very different from that of those setting another’s text; one only need hear ‘When to her lute’ to know, in this short song, how music has been envisaged at source alongside the poem. The result is, paradoxically, not always one of high artifice but a lucidity of expression which makes for songs of concision and naturalness. This well-devised programme, which has been sensitively researched by Nigel North (and who also writes an excellent note), parades 25 songs chosen from more than 100 from four different publications; these pieces straddle Campion’s notorious association (though he was to be cleared) with the famous Overbury poisoning, an episode which numbered his days at court and arguably precipitated his untimely death in 1620.
If there are broad themes to this recital, they highlight songs from a feminine perspective alongside temporal and philosophical considerations, be they seasonal, times of day or life-stages. The main protagonist, Michael Chance, seems rather less vocally settled than usual; some of the songs, such as ‘Turne backe you wanton flier’, are troubled by a tightness to the sound and some variable intonation (admittedly often a subjective matter). There is also a question of whether enough effort has been made to reveal how musical and textual lyricism can coalesce through range of colour, metrical awareness, accentuation and so on. Chance does, however, find his feet with some aplomb in ‘All lookes be pale’, and he is wonderfully evocative for those brought up on Campion’s most famous song, ‘Never weather-beaten saile’. More convincing are the consort singers who come together in four parts too rarely, though ‘Jack and Jone’ is a blissful, quasi-All things bright and beautiful rural idyll. The tenor voice, particularly, suits English lute songs, evident in recent years with Dowland recitals from Rufus Muller and Paul Agnew. Mark Padmore provides easy, uncomplicated readings, as in ‘Sweet, exclude me not’, which is delightfully soft-grained and unobtrusive. Ubiquitous bass Peter Harvey is also admirable. The accompaniments are first-rate, from North’s own musicianly contributions to the well-judged and pleasing viols of Concordia.'