William Lawes (1602-43) left just shy of three dozen pieces for solo lyra viol, an instrument related to the bass viol, but usually with extra, freely resonating strings.
Apart from a Prelude and Air, all are dances, Almains, Corantos, Sarabands and a Jigge. The instrument allows for a range of tuning systems, and its music was not written in standard notation but in tablature, which maps the finger positions rather than the sounds.
Richard Boothby is an experienced guide to the tonally plaintive, sonically intimate world of the viol, and he mines the varied moods of the pieces here with great success, if not with consistent technical polish.
