Hesperion XXI have followed their ‘one-off’ (2/99) with a second CD of music from the end of the reign of Elizabeth I, this time devoted to the works of Antony Holborne. The five-part pavans, galliards and almaines on parade here, taken from the first printed collection of English dance music, were issued in 1599 in partbooks suitable for viols, violins or wind instruments, although some of the dances already existed as cittern or lute solos. Hesperion XXI, of course, perform them on viols, supported and enhanced by lutes, organ and percussion.
They approach these predominantly homophonic dances with a welcome mixture of poise and gentle wit. The pavans are sustained, their cadences delicately ornamented – most often by Savall himself or one of the lutenists; the galliards and almaines are sprightly, their syncopations set off by percussion. Nothing is exaggerated; neither does the music suffer from an overabundance of melancholy (even in the chromatic inflections of the Image of Melancholy pavan) or jollity (in the Heigh-ho Holiday galliard), as is often the case in performances of this repertory. The repeats are varied and the cadences light-footed and, indeed, elegantly executed.
While many of Holborne’s dances are associated with popular songs and could be said to catch the spirit of the moment aptly enough, none – not even the Christmassy-sounding galliard As it Fell on a Holy Eve – could be described as programmatic. And it is important to note here that the performers themselves have added the evocative dirge-like drumming to the Infernum and The Funerals pavans. Oddly, the Lullaby doesn’t feel quite like a traditional lullaby. If, in the accompanying booklet-notes, Tim Crawford questions whether any of them were even intended to be danced, Hesperion XXI certainly strike plausible tempos and allow time for catching one’s breath at the cadences, thus preserving the option. At the very least, these dances belong to a repertory of courtly background music, and, that being so, these performances may be rather too carefully paced and in all probability over-polished.'