Reference to 'L'Amore' is confined to the eight vocal tracks, just over a quarter of the total playing time, but the title makes the disc more commercially attractive - as it deserves to be. None of the music can be described as 'super-heavyweight' but much of it is of good quality. Alicia de Larrocha once said to me: 'When something has been sleeping for a long time it is maybe kinder not to wake it', but that doesn't apply here. Few consorts perform as much fresh material in a single programme: Lodovico Bassano, James Harden and Edward Blancks bow into the catalogue, whilst John Coprario returns to it after a fallow period. In most cases where composers are already well represented, unfamiliar items have been found. In my allotted space it is impossible to discuss each of the 26 tracks; two, chosen at random, must suffice: John Lloyd's Puzzle-canons require one player to work out his own part from incomplete notation and some cryptic clues. The ingenious Phancy (fantasia) of Edward Blancks, a member of the London Waits, is one of the earliest known examples of the genre.
The Flanders Recorder Quartet has a warm sound, tight ensemble and impeccably comfortable intonation; it provides the framework, interspersed with vocal items, engagingly sung by Capilla Flamenca (Flemish, not Andalusian!), and a few lute solos. Interest is well sustained in this very well-performed and recorded programme - and in the deeply informative annotation. Warmly recommended.'