St George's Canzona
See article in Early Music Today (December 2014 - February 2015) - 'Tributes to John Sothcott and Selene Mills'
In Britain at least, it may be said that the early-music movement was initiated by Arnold Dolmetsch (b. 1858) and his family who (it seems) are all but forgotten today, even though their influence lingered on until the 1960s. Following the Dolmetschs came a second wave, in which Michael Morrow’s group, Musica Reservata (see "Michael Morrow Obituory". Early Music, August 1994: page 537. JSTOR 3128106.) was the foremost influence, and of which John Sothcott was a highly accomplished recorder player and founder member. Initially, Morrow’s field of activity was medieval music, and possibly the first occasion upon which they came into prominence was whilst touring in Brian Trowell’s production of The Raising of Lazarus, a medieval miracle play (1962). Leading the procession of disciples, they leapt straight out of a Bruegel painting; the three virtuoso minstrels - Michael Morrow, John Beckett and John Sothcott - followed by the impressive figure of Jeremy Montague, who beat an all-pervasive staccato accompaniment on the nakers (a small pair of drums hung at the waist). Thus they demonstrated exactly how such music might be lifted from the ancient manuscript, and be made to live and breathe again.
But in spite of such success, Michael began to harbour doubts regarding his tough approach to the performance of Medieval music. In his search for authenticity therefore, a change of direction became imperative, so that he now steered his vessel into the better charted waters of the Renaissance. His first venture into this period was a highly ambitious one, namely the Florentine Intermedii, which served as light musical interludes between the extravagantly staged acts of some 16th. century plays. These were scored in the multi-layered polychoral manner, and therefore required the participation of perhaps forty artists. Consequently, the assembled company came to include young performers who would constitute the next prominent generation of early musicians, including Phil Pickett and the ill-fated David Munrow. But also amongst those who would subsequently strike out on their own was John Sothcott himself who - living in Essex - had formed the Harlow Canzona Ensemble. Made up of local enthusiasts, it was originally simply a recorder consort, but soon acquired a veritable arsenal of other period instruments, regarding which Mike Oxenham’s impressive array of aulophones deserves a special mention. Consequently, this group was called upon to participate in the forthcoming concert and its attendant recording for Decca.
...
Wikipedia