John Dowland: Disdain me still; Lend your ears to my sorrow; Come, heavy sleep; Preludium; The Earl of Essex, his Galliard; A shepherd in a shade; By a fountain where I lay; Away with these self-loving lads; Lachrimæ; Tarleton's Riserrectione; If that a sinner's sighs; A Fantasie; Toss not my soul; In darkness let me dwell Henry Purcell: She loves and she confesses too; They tell us that you mighty powers above; Trumpet Tune called the Cibell; Echo Dance of the Furies; Ritornello 'The Grove'; Fly swift, ye hours; Oh lead me to some peaceful gloom; What a sad fate is mine; Lilliburlero. A New Irish Tune; A New Scotch Tune; Hornpipe; A New Ground; From silent shades or Bess of Bedlam; Music for a while
Wholenote Discoveries - March 2011
Orpheus is famed in classical mythology for his music which charmed and soothed all those who heard: be they gods, demons, humans, animals, elements, vegetation or even rocks and stones. The two English composers featured on this recording shared this ability. Recognized as “the English Orpheus” by his patron, John Dowland was sought in the European courts as both composer and performer of the finest songs for voice and lute. Performing this music with all its bittersweet tenderness requires a purity of tone from the singer combined with a deft and light touch from the lutenist. And whose sensibilities are better to deliver this more expertly than Emma Kirkby and Jacob Lindberg handling the gamut from bright pastoral delights like By a fountain where I lay to the melancholic despair of In darkness let me dwell? Interspersed are solo lute offerings such as The Earl of Essex, his galliard and Lacrimae. While the second Orpheus Britannicus featured generally made use of larger musical forces, many of Henry Purcell’s tunes lend themselves well to Lindberg’s own transcriptions for solo lute, such as the Echo dance of the furies from Dido & Aeneas and Lillibulero. Kirkby’s diction and pacing add superb dramatic content to From Silent Shades as well as her brilliant emotive vocal ebbs and swells in Music for a while. The listener is indeed transported to a time of grace and beauty through music’s true power. Dianne Wells
Sometime around 1600, John Dowland received a pavane composed by his patron Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, in honour of 'the English Orpheus'. A hundred years later a collection of songs by Henry Purcell was published posthumously with the title Orpheus Britannicus. And although more than three centuries have passed since then, the mythical comparison still rings true. To quote Emma Kirkby's own liner notes to the present disc, these giants in the history of English song 'share the quality of arresting any listener with a directness and grace that takes our breath away still today, aligning us with the men, animals, plants and stones that were said to weep or dance, or both, when Orpheus sang to his instrument.' Together with the lutenist Jakob Lindberg, Emma Kirkby has devised a programme which takes in a wide spectrum of emotions: from the pastoral joyfulness of By a fountain and that distillate of melancholy which is In darkness let me dwell, we are led via the desperation and drama of Bess of Bedlam to the conviction expressed in Music for a while that music has the power to vanquish even death. Interspersing the songs are lute solos, including Dowland's immortal Lachrimae, but also Lindberg's own transcriptions of Purcell pieces such as The Cibell and the Echo Dance of the Furies from Dido and Aeneas, performed on Lindberg's unique four-hundred year old instrument. Kirkby and Lindberg are musical partners of long standing, with earlier collaborations on BIS including Musique and Sweet Poetrie, a survey of the lute song across Europe around the year 1600. 'A grand tour conducted by a pair of ideal guides' was how the reviewer in Gramophone described that disc, while his colleague in International Record Review found that the 'undeniably glorious performances' made the disc 'a journey well worth making'. While the journey on the present disc is one in time rather than space, the performances are as glorious as ever, and Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg remain the best guides imaginable.
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Price: $28.98