Hume: Passion & Division

Loves Pastime
A Jigge
Harke, harke
Now I come
Rossamond
Touch me lightly
The Duke of Holstones Almayne
A Souldiers Resolution
I am melancholy
Tickell, tickell
A French Ayre
Deth
Life
The Spirit of Gambo
Tinckeldum, twinckeldum
Captain Humes Pavan
A Souldiers Galliard
Loves Farewell

Susanne Heinrich’s first solo release for Hyperion was a deliciously atmospheric award-winning disc of music by Abel. She continues her exploration of the world of the viol with this fascinating selection of works by the English composer Tobias Hume. Hume is a paradoxical figure: sometime mercenary solider and popularly described as a dilettante, the suggestive titles of some of these pieces reinforce that picture—a picture that is belied by the music itself. Many of these works show a deep understanding of pure, translucent emotion, as if to take a magnifying glass straight to the core of one’s feelings. A sense of melancholy and sadness, enhanced by Heinrich’s sympathetic playing, entices the listener into a world of dark enchantment.