Lamento (CD) – Iestyn Davies

Composers: Johann Christoph Bach, Franz Tunder, Samuel Scheidt, Johann Hermann Schein, Heinrich Schütz, Christian Geist, Felice Sances
Artists: Iestyn Davies, Hugh Cutting, Silas Wollston, Fretwork
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Signum UK
CD Release Date: July 13, 2021

Counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and the viol consort Fretwork present a new recording of works for viol consort and voice drawn from 17th-century Germany, following their critically-praised 2019 album of works by Michael Nyman and Henry Purcell.

Featuring performances from organist Silas Wollston and counter-tenor Hugh Cutting, the recital ranges widely over the 17th century – from the early years with three curiously similar-sounding friends, Schein, Scheidt, and Schütz, to the most significant member of the Bach family before Johann Sebastian, Johann Christoph Bach. From there they travel down the North Sea to the foothills of the Alps to include Franz Tunder and Christian Geist. Giovanni Felice Sances is an outlier here – he was born in Rome but spent the second part of his life working for three successive Emperors in Vienna, where viol playing was still very much in vogue.

In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three and a half decades, they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged.

Iestyn Davies is a British countertenor widely recognized as one of the world’s finest singers, celebrated for the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice and intelligent musicianship. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2017 for services to music.

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