Tielman Susato's dance collection of 1551 has always been a favourite for performers of renaissance instruments. That is not because the music is intrinsically stunning. Far from it. Rather it is because the title page declares that it is suitable for all musical instruments and because these simple dances, mostly in the baldest homophonic style, are so inexhaustibly adaptable. With their limited ranges they really can be performed on almost anything; and you can improvise insanely without losing track of the basic patterns.
This new recording includes 24 of the 57 dances in the collection, and presents them with a traditionally rich variety of instrumental colour, often with different scoring for each eight-bar section and with a wide range of pecussion instruments. The Camerata Hungarica field 15 instrumentalists with recorders, crumhorns, shawms, curtals, viols, lute and (this is the slight eyebrow raiser, though they sound lovely) chalumeaux. Their sound is mostly mellower than wer are perhaps used to hearing in this music: intonation is not what it might be and improvisation is at a minimum but these gentle performances are extremely pleasant on the ear; and Laszlo Czidra has a fine sense of tempo, so each dance feels comfortable for the musicians.
The vocal items are rather less steady and might profitably have been omitted, though it is good to be able to hear the Dutch song Seght ghy Bergsche Soldaten—to the Bruynsmedelijn melody—so confidently sung by three men in unison. The music is intelligently arranged in groups—of Basses danses, of Dont vient cela settings, of Branles, and so on—and the sleeve material details the instruments taking part in each piece.'