Globe's disc
Diminutions and Ostinati deals, according to annotator and principal artist
Saskia Coolen, "with the art of ornamentation in Italy from 1550 to 1650."
Coolen serves as recorder virtuoso and as the main instrumental voice in music largely meant for viols or lute, and is supported by gambist
Rainer Zipperling -- who is featured in a couple of pieces in the realm of viola bastarda -- and harpsichordist
Patrick Ayrton in a program made up of some dances and songs from this period that, on their own, would be generally interesting. This would include music of Diego Ortiz, Andrea Gabrieli, Andrea Falconieri, Bartolome de Selma y Salaverde, Tarquinio Merula, and others, including some original pieces by
Coolen herself, all designed to support the extensive liner notes inside. That's fine, but the recording is rather boring; the 19 pieces included are taken at roughly the same tempo and the relationship among instrumental voices is also the same throughout. The recorder dominates the proceedings to such extent that, when it is out of the picture for a piece here and there, what one is left with is a quiet recording with the harpsichord being the least readily audible element. Clearly with Globe's
Diminutions and Ostinati, premise took center stage and not the program inside; all three --
Coolen,
Zipperling, and
Ayrton -- are skillful performers, but there is a nonchalant, workaday quality to the music that merely wears out one's patience rather than informs or enthralls. For those to whom performance practice is paramount, this might prove of some interest anyway, but apart from its pedagogical value,
Diminutions and Ostinati is a snoozer.