it is no good having lewd words one cannot hear... so full marks for the City Waites and their swinging dialect style... items are sometimes accompanied, sometimes not, and this nicely provides contrast, but they are made into lively entertainments (Penguin Guide 3*) "a taste of the broadside ballad culture which pervaded the Restoration... The Maid's Complaint is a remarkably spontaneous scene, led by soprano Lucie Skeaping complete with a bunch of drunks who join in, late... Good fun but not very clean!" (Gramophone) "good diction allows particular clarity" (MusicWeb)
