This recording project features a selection of our favorite lute-songs and airs of John Dowland and his comtemporaries. For us it represents the culmination of years of studying and performing this very same repertoire until we finally felt ready to record it and make it comercially available.
It has been entirely subsidized and released by the Belgian label 'MUSICA FICTA' (a branch of "Pavane Records" specializing in Early Music) to whom we feel tremendously indebted.
IN THIS PAGE YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE WHOLE CD FOR EVALUATION PURPOSES
1. Dowland, Stay Time awhile thy flying |
2. Dowland, Say Love if ever thou didst find |
3. Dowland, Flow my tears |
4. Dowland, Come again: Sweet love doth now invite |
5. Cavendish, Wand'ring in this place |
6. Dowland, Mrs. Winter’s Jump (lute solo) |
7. Dowland, Can she excuse my wrongs? |
8. Rosseter, When Laura smiles |
9. Dowland, Sorrow Stay |
10. Dowland, Mr. Dowland’s Midnight (lute solo) |
11. Dowland, Come away, come sweet love |
12. DowIand, I saw my Lady weep |
13. Dowland, Wilt thou, unkind, thus reave me ? |
14. Rosseter, No grave for woe |
15. Holborne, Cradle Pavan (lute solo) |
16. Holborne, The Fairy Round (lute solo) |
17. Dowland, Clear or cloudy |
18. Ford, Come, Phyllis, come unto these bowers |
19. Campion, Fain would I wed |
20. Campion, Shall I come sweet Love to thee ? |
21. Dowland, Preludium (lute solo) |
22. Pilkington. Rest sweet nymphs |
23. Johnson, Have you seen but a white lily grow ? |
© All tracks are property of Pavane Records and Arts/Scène Production asbl. This music is only for promotional and evaluation purposes. Any use these contents outside this page is strictly prohibited by law.
Up until the end of the 15th century, the lute accompaniment of poetry and song was improvised according to the rhythm of the poem. For that reason it is impossible for us to reconstruct the practice of the time, since no written examples exist. At the end of the 15th century, the Italians developed a way of rendering polyphony on the lute, plucking with the fingers instead of with a quill. This new method allowed existing polyphonic songs (mostly frottole and subsequently madrigals) to be performed by one singer to the accompaniment of the lute, which would play all or some of the remaining voices. This development marked the beginning of the lute-song as a genre that soon began to expand across Europe, a process that continued throughout the 16th century.
England came late to this trend, but embraced it in a way that proved to be more fruitful and influential than in the rest of Europe. This was mainly due to the figure of John Dowland, one of the greatest song composers of any age and the main inspiration behind this recording. Although many lute-song masterpieces were created by Dowland’s contemporaries, none of these composers equals his level of originality, musical quality and sheer sublimity. We have included some pieces by some of the more accomplished composers (Francis Pilkington, Philip Rosseter, Michael Cavendish, Robert Jones, Thomas Campion and Robert Johnson) in order to offer a wider picture of the English lute-song as a genre.
