A masterful recording of various music compositions performed here by the York Waits. A very impressive recording indeed.
There used to be a lot of disagreement about the position of certain instruments in 15th Century vocal music before this recording. But the York Waits have given heavy reconstruction of arrangement form here based on their research. And it is clear that instrumental ensembles did play works from the polyphonic vocal repertory so there is complete justification in the York Waits arrangements of these works.
There are many pieces in this and some are very short. But there magic lingers on in the memory long after hearing them. They are most infectious. Some are even perfomed twice with the second version containing much embellishment.
The York Waits play expertly and they all work together very well. They are very musical and have a wide variety of mostly wind instruments. The arrangements are very interesting and they are not afraid to build the setting up one voice at a time, with a final embellishment run through.
The title of the recording is a bit of a cheat however. This is because Richard the III reigned for ony two years and the York Waits choose music from the entire fifteenth century and most of Europe. However on balance once the title draws you in, you descover that there is a lively programme and flavour of the period.
The whole disc is very interesting and is very highly reccomended.