William Lawes • Royall Consorts Les Voix humaines & guest musicians Setts 1, 2, 6, 7: David Greenberg & Ingrid Matthews , baroque violins Stephen Stubbs & Sylvain Bergeron, theorbos Setts 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10: David Greenberg & Olivier Brault, baroque violins Stephen Stubbs & Sylvain Bergeron, theorbos ACD2 2373 2 CD Set • William Lawes is believed by many to have been the most important English composer of his time.   As a musician he was certainly revered and prized by his colleagues in the service of King Charles I.   Most of his music was written for entertainments at court.   He wrote in many genres, but was best-known for his dance music and dramatic works, including masques, and especially for his inventiveness in chamber music of the kind featured on this CD. • Composed in the early 1630s, the Royall Consorts were Lawes' best-known works in his own lifetime.   They circulated widely in manuscripts until the Italian style came into vogue around 1680.   Lawes developed the custom, new at the time, of grouping his instrumental pieces into collections or suites (“Setts,” as he called them).   These consisted of the more sedate dances of the time, the pavans and almans, interspersed with instrumental movements which he called fantasies. • Susie Napper and Margaret Little, the two gambists of Les Voix humaines, have been thrilling audiences worldwide with dashing performances of early and contemporary music for viols since 1985.   Their musical complicity has been compared to the skill of two trapeze artists or the telepathic communion of a pair of jazz saxophonists! William Lawes (1602-1645) CD 1   1 -   4 | Royall Consort Sett No. 5 en ré majeur | in D   5 -   7 | Royall Consort Sett No. 2 en ré mineur | in d   8 - 12 | Royall Consort Sett No. 6 en ré majeur | in D 13 - 16 | Royall Consort Sett No. 7 en la mineur | in a 17 - 19 | Royall Consort Sett No. 4 en ré majeur | in D CD 2   1 -   4 | Royall Consort Sett No. 9 en fa majeur | in F   5 -   7 | Royall Consort Sett No. 10 en si bémol majeur | in B flat   8 - 11 | Royall Consort sett No. 1 en ré mineur | in d 12 - 15 | Royall Consort sett No. 8 en do majeur | in C 16 - 18 | Royall Consort Sett No. 3 en ré mineur | in d ATMA Classique is distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading PO Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone +61 (0)3 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile +61 (0)3 9444 6879