London was as diverse and multi-cultural in 1610 as it is today. On this live recording Carolyn Sampson and Matthew Wadsworth take you on a rich and colourful journey which embraces not only our own culture, but that of our European counterparts in Italy, France and Belgium, as well as a few surprises along the way. 

Matthew Wadsworth's and Carolyn Sampson's eclectic programme draws on Robert Dowland’s A Musicall Banquet and Varietie of Lute Lessons, both published in 1610, although they venture back a few years to the masterpieces of John Dowland and Robert Johnson. 

Sitting beside Wadsworth [for songs by Johnson], and singing as much to him as to us, Sampson established a fireside confidentiality, using a folk-ballad tone with just the faintest hint of vibrato: her warm, open sound was arrestingly expressive. 

When Wadsworth brought on the theorbo, and the songs became darker, we were in a different realm. Sampson's ‘In Darkness Let Me Dwell’ began as a sad exhalation, dramatically broadening in plangency before dying back again. 

For some rarely performed Monteverdi songs, she reminded us what a fabulous sound she can summon up, while Wadsworth brought out the fruits of his musicological research. The Independent (on the concert)