LSA Quarterly (February 2009)

Old Gautiers Nightinghall (i.e. Nightingale) in an important addition to the recorded repertoire in that it covers the much-neglected area of what we now call "transitional" tuning. The (mostly French) innovators who used these tunings would not have considered them transitional at all: "avant-garde" or "new" would have been a more apt word, for they adjusted the tunings (and strings) to maximize the instruments' resonance. Thus, we have the "accords nouveaux". The eventually predominant d minor tuning, in fact, was one of the least used of these new tunings. In symbiotic response, the composers, here represented by the great Rene Mesangeau, by the Roman ex-patriot French Pierre Gaultier, and even the beguiling and cunningly charming Thomas Mace, fashioned pieces to fully take advantage of the newly-tuned lutes. This is very precious repertoire, certain pieces and suites requiring specific tunings.
The changes of tuning and strings necessary to pull off a live concert would be impossible to sit through, but the miraculous convenience of assembling them from different recording sessions onto a single disc makes a seamless program.
Bails plays with a peautiful gut-strung tone on a Paul Thomson 12-course double-headed lute, giving a full sound to the stepped diapasons. His tempos are well chosen, altough the great chaconne by Pierre Gaultier goes through some startling tempo changes midway through. I would have liked to hear some of the ornaments a little more clearly, but I found this altogether a praiseworthy and compelling CD, long overdue.

Kenneth Bé