Both works feature an array of "sound effects" produced by various techniques (some would say "abuses") of string instruments--such things as striking the wood of the bow on the fingerboard or side of the instrument, playing close to the bridge or fingerboard, and snapping the strings (à la Bartók). The Farina piece also employs unusual glissando effects (among its animal depictions are those of a hen, a rooster, a dog, and a cat), and Biber even asks the bass player to insert paper between the strings to imitate a drum in the March section. Perhaps most bizarre is Biber's Ivesian polytonal writing in a section titled "The Profligate Society of Common Humour", in which eight different folksongs are "sung" simultaneously--in seven different keys, in two meters and nine voices! This sequence is offered to represent the various ethnic groups forming the armies employed by the aristocracies of the period. (One of the songs, "Cabbage and Beets" was later used by Bach in his Goldberg Variations.) Needless to say, this is all great fun--after all, how could you not enjoy a piece--Biber's Battalia--whose subtitle is "The Dissolute Gathering of Musketeers, the March, the Battle, the Lament of the Wounded, matched with Arias and dedicated to Bacchus"?

Unfortunately, most listeners won't know many of the above details because the disc's liner notes, which go on at length to "explain" the connection between 17th-century music and Aristotelian aesthetics, don't give much concrete information on the music you're hearing. Given the fact that all of these works are "about" something, and the more we know, the better we can appreciate their programmatic effect, this sketchy treatment makes no sense. Nevertheless, we certainly can appreciate Anthony Holborne's poignant Pavane (one of the disc's highlights) without a scorecard, and overall the instrumental playing is superb--and the occasional contribution of the cornetts is especially delightful. There are other battle pieces here, by such illustrious composers as Gervaise, Schmelzer, and Scheidt, and together there's a wide enough range of moods and styles that the program's nearly 70 minutes flows by with pleasurable ease. Sound is clear and detailed and vibrant--placing us at a comfortable (and safe!) distance from the action. [4/12/2005]