My Favourite Singing Voice

A joyous record titled Frottole from the Italian ensemble Accordone, comprising the magical voice of Marco Beasley with Guido Morini on organ and lutes and renaissance guitar from Stefano Rocco and Franco Pavan. There are guest lute contributions from Fabio Accurso and superb cornett colours courtesy of Bruce Dickey. The presence on any recording of the natural, sweet and mellow voice of Marco Beasley is recommendation enough to purchase it. This particular project is very much his. Frottole are "musical miniatures that sing of human passion with nobility and restraint" and originate from Italy at the turn of the 15th century when Italian composers influenced by humanist ideas wanted to produce a direct exprssive style different from the then current elaborate counterpoint. The works on the disk are by such names as Cara, Azzaiolo, Stringari, Caprioli, Fogliano, Tromboncino, Lassus, Giuggiola, Scoto, Dalza, Lurano, Borrono and coming off the substitutes bench the reliable anonymous. I think beasley has just about my favourite voice in any genre and I only wish all those who were persuaded to purchase Sting's Dowland disk could hear this one and compare ( not a sting bashing remark, just a statement of how much better this is and just as accessible to those with open minds )