THE GOLDEN AGE SINGERS, Tranchell, The Cambridge Review, 2nd February 1952

The Golden Age Singers at the Guildhall last Sunday afternoon gave a delightfully mellifluous recital of madrigals, balletts and canzonets, in a programme which also included numbers in Italian and French.

The five singers were beautifully blended and contrasted, and even in passages of temporary dubiety, their difference of opinion did not really serve to impair their delicious concent[sic]. As they sat round a table looking for all the world like an Elizabethan family at a game of Canasta, we of the audience derived an additional authenticity in our cosy enjoyment of their songs.

Thanks indeed must be given for this opportunity to hear exquisitely such works as Weelkes’ “O Care, thou wilt despatch me,” “Hark, all ye lovely saints above” (not to mention the amusing canzonet “The Nightingale, the organ of delight”), or again, Monteverdi’s “Ah dolente partita!” and “Tra Mule Fiamme,” followed in due course by Morley’s “Fire, fire!” and “Ho, who comes here”; while the gem of the afternoon was undoubtedly Orlando di Lasso’s “Bonjour, mon coeur.”

Peter Tranchell