ALFRED DELLER: COMPLETE VANGUARD CLASSICS RECORDINGS, VOLUME 1 - FOLK SONGS AND BALLADS (7 CDS)

The present collection combines his six recordings of folk music on the "Vanguard Recording Society" label - including the Tavern Songs and Cries of London in their first CD release - with related music recorded for Vanguard's "Bach Guild" label, including English Lute Songs, which here marks its first appearance on CD.

Tavern Songs: Catches and Glees, Volume 1
Tavern Songs: Catches and Glees, Volume 2
The Cries of London
The Three Ravens
The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies
Vaughan Williams Folk Song Album
English Lute Songs
Awake Sweet Love
The Cruel Mother
The Western Wind

Alfred Deller, countertenor
Desmond Dupré, lute
The Deller Consort

7CD with bonus CD-ROM

The solos, mostly by Deller himself with lute accompaniment by Desmond Dupré, are wonderfully fresh and immediate in sound, with no ambience that spoils the feeling of having the singer almost at one's side in the room. The catches, glees and part-songs are similarly intimate and natural, sympathetic without being reverberant.