Composer Orlando Gough imagined that the viol players on Drake's ship, The Golden Hinde, tried to imitate the foreign sounds they heard on their journey for friends and relatives back home.
Performer Biography
Fretwork, the viol consort performing on this album, has a wide-ranging repertoire from the first printed music of 1501 to newly commissioned works, and their 2009 recording of Purcell Fantazias won a Gramophone Award.
Album & Artwork
The album, "The World Encompassed," is a musical journey charting Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globe from 1577-80.
Historical Context
Sir Francis Drake's voyage had a primary aim of disrupting Spanish colonies in South America, fueled by his Protestant Christianity and desire for revenge against the Spanish.
Composition History
The album was commissioned by Fretwork, a viol consort, who asked Orlando Gough to create a piece about Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world.
Compositional Technique
The album seamlessly weaves together 16th-century music, including English polyphony and Puritan hymns, with new compositions by Orlando Gough that evoke local music from Drake's journey.
Instruments
The viol, a stringed instrument, is in a unique position for new music because its history has a two-hundred-year gap, making it feel pioneering and unencumbered by later compositional traditions.
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(with spoken text and melodramas in English)
