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• Colman, Charles: The 4-part Airs

Colman, Charles: The 4-part Airs

edited by David Pinto.

Colman's dance music, to quote David Pinto, 'must rank second only to John Jenkins and William Lawes for the period to 1650, when suite-form was still in the crucible'. His writing is 'very rounded, even classic' and "was probably a formative influence on the young Charles II, by a writer widely popular among the middle class in his own lifetime". The pieces share the same scoring as Lawes' Royall Consort (old version), namely Treble 1, Treble 2, Tenor and Bass/Theorbos and afford the same variety of performance possibilities: either with viols alone, or with the bass line doubled by theorbo(s), or with the bass doubled by harpsichord - a substitution supported by contemporary evidence. Whilst the bass part shows the (relatively few) places where bass viol and theorbo parts diverge, making it possible for two players to share the part, many may wish to buy a second copy of the bass partbook.