Tony Brittens strained account of Elizabethan madrigalist John Wilbye’s sexual adventures lacks passionTony Britten combined music and mummery to leavening effect in Peace and Conflict,his 2013 film on his composer namesake Benjamin. His latest makes starchy work of a notionally sexier subject – Elizabethan madrigalist John Wilbye’s saucy relations with his patrons – by having rep actors roam heritage sites, declaiming stylised period dialogue; bland cutaways to a modern chorister’s like life strain to demonstrate the loin-stirring capabilities of Wilbye’s music. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com