They That In Ships Unto The Sea Down Go: Music For The Mayflower

This CD marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower, drawing on music from books that some of the passengers took with them. The four voices and group of instruments that comprise the early music ensemble Passamezzo present a cleverly assembled programme of largely anonymous contemporary songs, plus hymns and prayers by Richard Allison, John Dowland, Thomas Campion, Thomas Weelkes and Tobias Hume (‘Tobacco is like love’!), building a very convincing sound-picture of how the early colonies might have sounded.

BRIAN MORTON Read the full review on Agora Classica