Dowland: If my complaints could passions move

In the late 16th C, lute songs were known as ‘Ayres’ with John Dowland’s form of writing establishing a fashion of both composition and performance which was to last for 25 years.

The popularity of rhetoric and a fashion for melancholy spilled over to Dowland’s writing and he became one of the greatest advocates for this style.

This disc is a wonderful collection of his melancholic works (difficult to achieve as the composer himself never made a ‘collection’ as such), performed here by the fantastic Fretwork ensemble with countertenor Dominque Visse singing.

Dominque began his career at the age of 11 as a chorister in the Cathedral of Notre Dame and went on to study with Alfred Deller. He has since performed with other greats including more recently René Jacobs, Nigel Rogers and William Christie.

"Beer and the viola da gamba both arrived in England in the space of a year, in the reign of King Henry VII”, wrote Henry Peacham. And yet it was not until the following reign, that of Henry VIII, that the latter instrument gained its noble status. The high point, however, occurred in the long reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603).

The consort song had its origin partly in the theatre, partly in madrigals inspired by the Italians, then very much in vogue. Fashionable English composers write songs, airs and dance pieces that would embody this uniquely English phenomenon; among them John Dowland and Anthony Holborne, who feature prominently on this disc, both leading figures in Elizabethan music. With his ensemble Musicall Humors, Julien Léonard has managed to create a viol consort of astonishing homogeneity, offset by the delicate presence at times of a lute, at times of a cittern, a harpsichord, the virginals or organ. The sonorities are round, warm, velvety, and for her first solo disc, the voice of Eugénie Warnier lies with unforced delicacy upon this instrumental duvet.

Shakespeare – Come again sweet love is a haunting collection of songs and madrigals by some of the great masters of the Renaissance period, including Purcell, Dowland and Gibbons. The theme of the album is “love” in all its many forms, expressed through the poetry of the Shakespearian Era and the music it inspired.

Daniel Taylor is joined on the album by the Theatre of Early Music (founded and conducted by Daniel Taylor) and famous soloists Dame Emma Kirkby, Carolyn Sampson, Michael Chance and Charles Daniels.

Daniel and the Theatre of Early Music appear in some 30 concerts every year. The ensemble consists of a choir and orchestra that are dedicated to sustain the heritage of magnificent yet neglected choral and instrumental repertoire from four centuries. Their recent performance could be seen on stages in France, England, Argentina, Brazil and China.

Daniel Taylor is a prolific recording artist who has worked on numerous albums including Sakamoto’s pop-opera Life with the Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie, Renaissance duets with actor Ralph Fiennes, and Bach recitals with the Theatre of Early Music to name only a few.

Peter Pears’ voice was undoubtedly one of the finest and most distinctive of the twentieth century and here he collaborates with Julian Bream and Benjamin Britten in performances of English song. Repertoire includes works by Ford, Morley, Rosseter, Dowland, Pilkington, Campion, Bridge, Butterworth, Ireland, Moeran, Warlock, Holst, Berkeley, Oldham and Britten.

A musical journey back in time - to the world of the jesters and music makers of the royal chamber. Stately dances, gentle lute music and wistful love songs make up this programme of beautiful and elaborate sixteenth-century music from the Tudor courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

These beautiful and melancholy “Ayres” by the English 16th century composer John Dowland may be seen as precursors of the songs of the Romantic period, two centuries later. They are performed here by the renowned combination of Gerard Lesne and the Ensemble Orlando Gibbons.