Emma Kirkby, The Consort of Musicke - Angelo Notari: Prime Musiche Nuove (1994)

In so much as it is known at all, Angelo Notari's Prime musiche nuove is known as an Interesting Historical Fact, the earliest dated book of engraved music to have been produced in England. By the time that it was published. Notari had been in the country for only three years, having originally left Venice to take up a permanent position in the entourage of Prince Henry. With the latter's death he became part of the private music of Prince Charles, who he continued to serve after he ascended the throne in 1625. As might be expected from its title, with its obvious overtones of Caccini's famous publication of 1601, Notari's Prime musiche nuove is filled with pieces in the latest Italian styles. The verse of Rinuccini, Guarini and Chiabrera is prominent, and the contents are almost equally divided between monodies, duets and trios.
Most of these pieces were clearly designed for professional singers of some virtuosity. This is most obviously the case with Ben qui si mostra, based upon Cipriano de Rore's four-part madrigal, and virtually an exercise in passage-work for an accompanied bass singer. In fact, it comes as something of a shock to the system to recall that these pieces were first published in a country where domestic song meant amateur performance of Dowland's ayres. The challenges of Notari's pieces are on the whole well met by the Consort of Musicke, and we must be grateful to them for revealing some remarkably good music in a rather dusty corner of the early seventeenth century.
Emma Kirkby and Evelyn tubb are particularly persuasive advocates for the style in the opening sequence of duets, and their voices are well-matched. I am less keen on some of the men, and must confess to never having been an enthusiast for David Thomas's voice either on grounds of tone or accuracy of intonation. But the hero of the piece is Notari, who is shown as a composer with a distinctly individual voice, for all the rather obvious echoes of Monteverdi's music. The recording is of good quality, and conveys a pleasant sense of intimacy.'