It is mildly disappointing that the early music world has not retaliated to Sting’s much-publicised Dowland project with a covers album of songs by The Police. But instead of singing “Roxanne” or “Message in a bottle”, Lawrence Zazzo has responded with a recital of early English song accompanied by an SATB saxophone quartet. Unlike Sting’s over-produced and closely miked studio sound, this disc is permeated by an organic and lifelike sound, and abounds with truthful artistry. Zazzo writes that he finds common ground between the melancholy nihilism of these songs and “the bittersweet, lonely sound” of legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, and the title “Byrdland” is a pun on the famous New York jazz club (immortalised by the fusion band Weather Report).

Zazzo’s interpretation of the text and tasteful shaping of melody would grace any kind of performance style, and it is intriguing to hear some tenderly realised polyphonic lines delineated by the Paragon Saxophone Quartet. Byrd’s “Lullaby” and Gibbon’s “The Silver Swan” get an attractive alternative life here. The saxophones play in a predominantly melancholic and soft way, although occasionally, as in the climax of Dowland’s “In darkness let me dwell”, they show more rasping timbres. “Ye sacred muses” (Byrd’s elegy to his deceased friend and teacher Tallis) and Purcell’s “If love’s a sweet passion” are perhaps the most successful fusions of ancient and modern (whereas Zazzo’s operatic take on “Fairest Isle” is too over-the-top for me). One wonders whether a few songs could have benefited from a quieter and more discreet accompaniment (the lute works well, not just for historical reasons). However, that impression ought not take anything away from a disc that is a rare example of successfully reinventing “early” music.