The prospect of a Nigel North set is something to drool over, and this first installment doesn't disappoint. Pre-eminently the lutenist's lutenist, North is steeped in the music - and technically beyond reproach. Can anyone slip the colourist gears as smoothly? Every opening chord makes you sit up and pay attention; lazy listening is never an option.

…Nigel North… has organised his programme into alternative groups of dancelike pieces, often bearing the dedicatee's name, and free-form works of an often profound nature, including the seven superb Fantasies. The resultant light and shade, the changing moods and the robustness of much of the writing is perfectly mirrored in North's own deployment of tone, ornamentation and shifting emphases. This is mature playing of real depth.

A collector’s item