Dowland: Sir John Smith, His Almain

Matthew Wadsworth: I used to spend hours in the basement of the library, listening to recordings of one of my great idols, Julian Bream – deciding which piece to write out and learn next. Since then, it has always been a burning ambition of mine to one day record the Varietie of Lute Lessons, and some 15 years after my initial forays into this stunning repertoire, it felt right to finally commit the pieces to disc.My choice of pieces for this recording was largely instinctive. It wasn’t possible to record all 42 pieces, so I chose the ones which spoke to me the most at the time, with a view to representing all styles and genres of the book.

Matthew Wadsworth, lutenist, is in great demand as a soloist, continuo player and chamber musician. He has appeared at major festivals in the UK, Europe and North America and can frequently be heard on radio, both in live performance and on disc.Wadsworth was recently made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and was nominated by The Independent as a “Rising Star for 2005”.

The reign of Elizabeth Tudor (1558-1603) brought with it a period of splendour for England, within which the lute experienced its moment of glory. In paintings from this time convivial scenes featuring performers of harp and lute are often depicted.

Well known melodies of the epoch, as well as harmonic sequences such as Bergamasca, Ruggiero, Callinoe, Conde Claros and various Dumps were used by performers when they gathered to improvise together. Sometimes the music was dedicated to a well known personality of the court such as was surely the case with 'The Queenes Good Night', inspiring sweet dreams for Elizabeth.

For this recording Marie Nishiyama and Rafael Bonavita have mixed the colours of harp and lute, the characteristics of each instrument to create a dialogue of sound between the two. A dialogue that goes – as does this repertoire – beyond epochs and styles.

Damien Guillon has chosen for his first solo recital disc a refined, subtle and melancholy repertoire, which he has gone on to explore in depth and polish in genuine chamber style with the lutenist Eric Bellocq, an expert in Renaissance music.

Eric Bellocq plays a liuto forte from André Burguete’s conception, an instrument which enables the player to develop a larger sound possibilities creating a true dialogue with the singer and a great freedom in improvisation. Damien Guillon started at an early age as a member of child’s choir Brittany, then at the Versailles Baroque Center while studying organ and harpsichord. In 2004, he was admitted to the countertenor Andreas Scholl’s class at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis… He was soon spotted by such well-known conductors as Jordi Savall, Vincent Dumestre, Hervé Niquet, Jérôme Correas, Philippe Pierlot, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Christophe Rousset, William Christie, and Philippe Herreweghe. He has founded his own ensemble, Le Banquet Céleste, with which he has performed at Les Nuits Musicales d’Uzès and the Froville Festival. Their repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and the cantatas for alto and obbligato organ of J. S. Bach, which will be Damien Guillon’s next recording project on Zig-Zag Territoires.

Evgeni Finkelstein is an outstanding Russian master of classical guitar. His playing is marked by wonderful sound, extraordinary finesse and intense musical expression. These qualities are coupled with a brilliant technique to fascinate the listener. On a previous album ‘The Fall of Birds’ he won critical acclaim in the Classical Guitar magazine.

Tom Daun has been working with early harp music for a long time and has also performed his own compositions. Here he performs on an “arpa doppia” and a much smaller gothic harp. The collection includes works by Dowland, Weiss, Reusner, Bach and Neusidler.