Well, it's only taken me three years to get around to reviewing this digital-only album from the top-notch UK dance band Green Ginger! A Midsummer Regency Romp came out in the summer of 2016, and I've been happily using tunes from it off and on ever since.
The short version of the review: buy the album from Bandcamp here! But be aware that (1) the time range is rather wide for "Regency", (2) only eleven out of fourteen have suitable repeats (six) for historical style dancing, and (3) one of those is...problematic. Contact Green Ginger directly for extended (twelve-repeat) tracks. And be wary of the dance reconstructions in the accompanying booklet.
The long version:
I feel a little silly repeating all the nice things I've said about Green Ginger before, so to summarize: great instrumentation (three violins and/or violas, piano), beautiful sound, eight-bar introductions, steady and danceable tempi, and sources for their tunes given. In general, I recommend all their recordings, and that certainly includes this one. Among its other fine qualities, it includes a relatively-rare forty-bar country dance tune!
I do, however, have a few minor caveats and notes.
1. While eleven out of fourteen tunes are recorded six times through, which works perfectly for a three-couple set doing proper historical progression, three of the tracks are seven times through, which means they will need to be trimmed of one repeat to be useful for historical dancing. Here's the breakdown, minus one problematic track:
Six times through, perfect for a three-couple set
Boney in the Dumps (32b x6, jig)
The Cat in Pattens (32b x6, jig)
The Frisky (32b x6, jig)
The Magic Mirror (32b x6, jig)
The Romp (32b x6, reel)
The Royal Salute (32b x6, reel)
Theodore (40b x6, reel)
Sir Charles Cotton's Hornpipe (32b x6)
Tom Jones's Waltz (32b x6, waltz)
Lady Charlotte Campbell's Waltz (48b x6, waltz)
Seven times through, will need editing for historical use
Trip to Hatfield House (32b x7, jig)
The Young Quaker (32b x7, jig)
Petronella (32b x7, reel)
One could buy the tracks individually at Bandcamp, avoiding the seven-repeat ones, but since the album as a whole costs less than ten individual tracks, I cannot imagine why one would bother. Just trim those three tracks by one repeat.
2. While Green Ginger is now selling their music via Bandcamp instead of directly, the extended tracks (twelve repeats, for four-couple sets) for this album are not available on Bandcamp. The album webpage says to contact them directly about the extended tracks.
3. The name of the album is somewhat misleading, in that not one of the tunes is actually Regency (1811-1820) in origin. Only a few are even nineteenth century. Several stretch even the boundaries of the "extended Regency" period -- a few from the early 1770s and one (the problematic one) from the late 1760s. Those earliest ones predate even Jane Austen's birth, let alone her dancing days! I don't have a problem using these particular tunes for Regency-era dances, myself, since I think the general style is compatible, but it does make the choice of album name a little weird and might be an issue for anyone who wishes to be extremely literal about "Regency".
4. It is extremely helpful of Green Ginger to provide a specific source for every tune, and even more helpful that they even give the original dance instructions for each, which enables me to judge the reconstructions in the accompanying booklet, which are credited to Diana Campbell. The result of this, however, is that I can't really recommend the booklet's reconstructions as a whole. I'm not going to go through it dance by dance, since I am reviewing this album as music for dancing, but there are a lot of minor problems and a few not-so-minor. The common modernization of turning longways triple minor dances into three-couple sets is properly acknowledged, and the instructions for the original triple minor format are given, which is good (and far beyond what most such notes do!) But there are other modernizations which are not acknowledged, figures which appear to have been misunderstood or deliberately altered, and the very odd recommendation of a "heel and toe" step for setting. These are much more significant issues than, for example, figures such as "allemande" where one could have a lively argument about the best interpretation. Overall, I'd ignore the modern reconstructions and just be grateful that the booklet republishes the original figures so one can do one's own. With one exception...
5. ...that one problematic track, "The Sword Knott" (24b x6). As a standalone recording, it's actually fine, a nice little reel, and it's good to have a twenty-four-bar country dance track. And as with the others, there is an extended version for longer sets. But if one compares the dance instructions given in the booklet with the original ones, and goes back to the original publication (which I have a copy of) to look at the actual music, it's obvious that there was a misinterpretation somewhere. The tune is meant to be played considerably more slowly for the dance figures provided, which have been sped up and altered to fit this tempo. I've no idea whether this was a mistake or a deliberate decision on the part of either Green Ginger or Ms. Campbell. The tune does sound good at that speed. It's just not correct in the context of its dance figures.
So, I can recommend this particular track only if one avoids dancing it to the dance instructions (modern or original) given in the booklet. That's fine for historical purposes, where one can just set shorter figures to it, but presumably is a problem for modern-style dancers who want to memorize a choreography.
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In summary, back to the short version again: I highly recommend A Midsummer Regency Romp as an album of Regency-suitable dance music, though I do not recommend the booklet of reconstructions that goes with it. I also suggest contacting Green Ginger about getting the extended versions of the tracks for historical dancing, particularly if you want them to do more of those!
Start with Green Ginger's album page or go directly to Bandcamp.
Happy midsummer romping!
Special thanks to Tim MacDonald for musical advice!
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