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Disc 1:

1. [Unspecified] A toy (Jane Pickering Lute Book)
2. Oft thou hast
3. O sweet flower
4. O th'unsure hopes of men
5. In darkness let me dwell
6. My joy is dead
7. Deceitful fancy
8. Foe of mankind

Rating: - A gorgeous masterpiece; my favorite CD all year!
Emily Van Evera is the Penelope Rich of the 21st century... beautiful, brilliantly gifted, and a scrupulous steward of those gifts. Her voice is pure magic, passionate and fiercely intelligent, both elegant and sensual. She is more than musician - she's a complete actress, portraying the meaning embedded in each word. Her voice is consistently masterful, precise, like a bell ringing in a cathedral. The way she nails each pitch, and inhabits it, and sustains... and sustains... is delicious.

The arrangements for this recording are impeccable. Even the running order seems perfectly organic. The scholarship behind the entire project is thorougly engaging, a gripping story artfully told. Van Evera's liner notes describe each piece with meticulous eloquence. The material traverses a wide variety of moods from the playful "Pretty Woods" to the sexy "In Fields Abroad" to a lullaby so tender and gentle it is almost whispered. I can't pick a favorite track: right now it's a three-way tie between "Deceitful Fancy", "The Thrush", and "Sweet Stay Awhile". Whatever she is singing, Van Evera's voice is always lush, haunting, thrilling.