Ever since it came out in 2017, In Echo’s album ‘Music in a Cold Climate’ has been one of my very favourite things so when I saw that the ensemble were bringing this programme to MUSICON (and the day after my birthday, just to make it extra special) I was, to put it mildly, quite excited. 

In Echo are an early-music ensemble, specialising in the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, directed by cornetto and recorder player Gawain Glenton. The previous times that I had heard Glenton play, he was accompanying us in Durham Singers concerts so this evening it was lovely to soak up the glorious sound of the cornetto without also having to remember to sing. The cornetto is a curved wooden pipe, covered in leather, with a tiny cup mouthpiece and holes like a recorder, and the colours of its sound range from a sweet purity to something more earthy and husky.

In Echo’s programme is subtitled ‘Sounds of Hansa Europe’ and draws on music from the fascinating network of trading cities – the Hanseatic League – that was strung across Northern Europe. Musicians made the most of this too, creating cultural contacts and travelling across the region: the three dances by William Brade that closed the programme typified this: one German, one English and one Scottish, written by an Englishman working in Hamburg. 

And so, to the music itself. A Symphonia by Nicolaus à Kempis (worked in Brussels, published in Antwerp) for the full ensemble began the concert; its sparse, icy opening immediately plunged us into the textures of this lesser-known musical world. 

Several pieces on the programme were based on familiar tunes – popular songs, church music – layered-up with elaborate interweaving lines or in florid solo lines. The well known ‘Lacrimae’ tune from Dowland’s song ‘Flow my tears’ made several appearances, the first of which was a gorgeous trombone solo played by Emily White – this was soft and sweet with an expressive range of colour, showing the intimate side of an instrument that is associated with more formal music. Gawain Glenton spun out an unbroken and elaborate legato line over the busy chatter of the strings in a pavane based on the song ‘Susanne un jour’ by Johann Sommer (Bremen). The Lacrimae returned later in the first half, this time for organ and the gleaming tone of Oliver Webber’s baroque violin.

In another solo spotlight, organist Silas Woollston played ‘Ich fuhr mich über Rhein’ by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Amsterdam), revelling in its rhythmic intricacies and ramping up the excitement to end in a glorious swirling dance. Oliver Webber, Rachel Byrt (viola) and William Hunt (violone) also all had lovely solo moments alongside the organ in Johann Philip Krieger’s Sonata à 4 to close the first half.

Gawain Glenton explained that the reason that many of these composers and pieces were unfamiliar was because it was written by town instrumentalists, working outside the great courts and churches and their work was looked down on and neglected. However, there was one piece that I think we can all agree has not been neglected – the Canon and Gigue by Johann Pachelbel (Nuremberg), here given a refreshingly vigorous performance. Swapping his cornetto for a recorder, Glenton played the Fantasia In Echo from Dutch composer Jakob van Eyck’s collection Der Fluyten Lust-hof – well-known to recorder players if not to the wider world – with exquisite articulation and sharply contrasting dynamics for the titular echo effects.

Happily the whole concert lived up to my high expectations and I was enthralled throughout the evening. My own highlight was the penultimate piece, a sonata for cornetto, trombone and organ by Dietrich Becker (born in Hamburg and worked in Sweden, Celle and Lübeck). The sonata begins in a late-night, bluesy mood, with smoky tones – anachronistically evoking the melancholy feeling of an empty bar when the party has ended – but gently perking up with surprising changes of time and slow-dawning brightness, feeling the warmth of the sun coming up after a long night. 

If you weren’t able to get to the concert, do listen to the album to get the full flavour of what I’ve tried to describe here. The album also includes new music written for the group by Andrew Keeling which echoes the feel of the 16th and 17th century music with a contemporary edge. You can also hear more new music for old instruments at next week’s MUSICON recital by harpsichordist Katarzyna Kowalik.