Brando gentile - rhythm in the first section

We've been dancing Brando Gentile to a lovely recording ("In the Italian Manner: Dance in the Royal Courts of Europe c. 1600" by the Copenhagen Musicians). That recording gives the first section as a very danceable compound-duple (6/8 or 6/4).

However, on closer inspection, that's not what Negri does: his first section is alternating 6/4 and 4/4. Since we dance at two beats to the bar, that means the "count" for the dancers feels like "1--2--1-2-1--2--1-2-", etc: the basic beat we dance to becomes "two slow, two faster". In practice, it fits the steps of the dance well, so I'm eager to try this with live musicians.

In other "Brando Gentile" news: it quotes not only Arbeau's Maltese branle, but the English song "Pastime".