Concert Program/ Labyrinto & Celine Scheen

From the official Program Notes: Tobias Hume was an early seventeenth-century mercenary who campaigned with the armies of Sweden and Russia, but when back home in England confessed to one ‘effeminate part of me’ – a love of music. His enthusiasm for the bass viol in particular was a vital factor in its development as an instrument not only fit for ensemble music but also capable of functioning as a soloist and as an accompanist to a singer, and it is in all three of these roles that it appears in this concert by the brilliant Italian viol consort Labyrinto. Hume’s vocal and instrumental music is set alongside songs by Dowland and a highly ornamented version of Caccini’s famous Amarilli mia bella – surely enough to prove Hume’s contention that the viol ‘shall with ease yeelde full various and as devicefull Musicke as the Lute’.