Since the release of the chart topping ‘Alehouse Sessions’ in 2017, and a worldwide tour, Bjarte Eike and the boys and girls have been busy on this new album which moves the alehouse project on from dour Puritanism of Cromwell’s Commonwealth, to the hedonistic Restoration of Charles II, and the Glorious Revolution that saw William III and Mary II replace the unpopular James II.

The alehouse musical culture developed into playhouses, and music halls, selling tickets and subscriptions. Operas, masques, dance, jesting (the first stand-up comedians maybe?), all this prepared the way for the first public concert hall to be established. Nights in these places though would still be bawdy - stage fights, cross dressing, elements of pantomime, songs sung to popular tunes of the day, satire - always a good draw, and a good number of rustic clowns, bawdy wenches and fools thrown in for good measure.

Think of these back rooms as a very English mix of Shakespeare, commedia dell’arte, juggling with music by Purcell, folk tunes, and sea shanties. After the misery of the Commonwealth and Cromwell’s dictatorship, the public were in the mood to party. Playhouse is your invitation.

“There are some things you just can’t fake. The chemistry of a group is one of those - the sparks of musical energy that fly when certain artists collide. Bjarte Eike’s Barokksolistene is an alchemical miracle of an ensemble... pure musical gold” - Gramophone

Reviews

Eike and his musicians swap the alehouse for the playhouse – almost. Taking inspiration from Cromwell’s England, when the closure of the theatre drove music-making underground, they imagine an evening in the tavern in which London’s out-of-work court musicians mingle with locals, creating a spontaneous recital of everything from Purcell to sea-shanties, jigs and folk songs, and even some spoken drama. ... These are expert musicians who take off their professional hats and muck in as needed, playing multiple instruments and all singing both as chorus and soloists, creating a performance that may not be authentic in a strict historical sense but feels absolutely authentic to the spirit of the period and of players – as then, and as now. Alexandra Coghlan

Gramophone November 2022