Amidst the Shades is a new album from British soprano Ruby Hughes accompanied by Jonas Nordberg on lute and archlute and Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann on viola da gamba.  It’s a very beautiful record starting, as one might expect, with a selection of English song from the 16th and 17th century plus some pieces for solo lute.  There are songs by John Dowland, including the well known Can She Excuse My Wrongs (possibly to a text by Robert Devereux; if so clear who “she” is).  Robert Johnson makes an appearance with three songs including two Shakespeare settings.  John Danyel also features along with instrumental music by Anthony Holborne and Tobias Hume.

Fast forwarding two or three reigns we get four songs by Henry Purcell including Sweeter Than Roses before another, larger, jump to Benjamin Britten’s setting of the Corpus Christi Carol here transcribed for lute.  That serves as a bridge to a final set of songs by contemporary female composers.  Master of the King’s Music Errolyn Wallen features with The Shadow of My Sorrow from Shakespeare’s Richard II and Deborah Pritchard is represented by two of her Ophelia Songs and there’s more Hamlet setting from Cheryl Frances-Hoad.  I find it really interesting that, while the contemporary songs each have their own sound world, they have the same sparse beauty and delicacy as the earlier works.

Hughes has a lovely, clean voice and a real sensitivity to text.  The accompanists are masterly and are playing instruments that really sit the music.  The overall result is an album that’s very, very beautiful but quite varied.  It’s perfect for those times when one needs to listen to something contemplative.  With almost 80 minutes of music it’s also a pretty generous offering.

The recording was made in June 2023 at Länna Kyrka, Norrtälje, Sweden.  It’s very clean and clear with a solid sound stage; at least on the pre-release 96kHz/24bit lossless version I listened to.  The actual release (due February 6th, 2026) will be hybrid SACD which may be even better judging by other SACDs from this label.  There’s also an informative booklet with loads of information and full texts.

Catalogue information: BIS records SACD BIS 2698.