We know more from Christopher Simpson than we know of him. He wrote one of the 17th century’s most widely read textbooks on how to play the viol, still of interest to performers searching for authenticity today. But beyond the fact that he served as quartermaster in the Royalist army of the Earl of Newcastle during the English civil war, we know little about his life. And, until now, relatively little of his music: this recording of his 20 Ayres for Two Trebles and Two Basses, partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign, is the first. They fall into five groups resembling dance suites, and each movement is worthwhile: the B flat major Pavin, to take just one example, is an especially toothsome feast of gently squeezing harmonies. Four of Simpson’s Divisions are included too. Performed by the four viol players of Chelys and their keyboard and guitar playing colleagues, they sound wonderfully supple, propulsive and alive.
