Strummed, plucked bowed or blown - the notes unfailingly enchant, enveloping the listener in a penumbra of subtle textures. Frescobaldi's experiments with non-keyboard instruments have seldom been recorded. Despite a slightly claustrophobic acoustic, this disc imaginatively recreates a neglected moment in Frescobaldi's artistic evolution.

As this ensemble's name implies, viols are the start here, and part of the disc's attraction lies in the novelty of hearing these pieces, which are played often enough, in an instrumentation that largely dispenses with the more usual winds.
The only touch of non-string colour is provided by the cornetto.
The role of the continuo is immeasurably enhanced, becoming not so much a backdrop to the solo lines as their foundation. And the continuo section is rich indeed: harp, claviorganum, theorbo and harpsichord. When everything comes together the result is as colourful and eartickling as anything to be heard on other recordings of this repertoire.
The performances rise to the music's challenges with elegance and barely any technical strain. This is a disc that grows on you with repeated listening, and demonstrates that Frescobaldi's canzonas are no less inventive than his keyboard music.