Dowland: In Darkness Let Me Dwell

See Larger Image	List Price: £14.99 Our Price: £13.98 Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Manufacturer: ECM New Series Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0028946523421 Label: ECM New Series Manufacturer: ECM New Series Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: ECM New Series Release Date: 1999-10-18 Running Time: 72 Studio: ECM New Series
Related Items Romaria Dowland: Lachrimae/Byrd: Consort Music and Songs Care Charming Sleep Morimur Dowland - Lute Music, Vol 1
Editorial Reviews: The past cross-fertilises with the present on In Darkness Let Me Dwell, and the result is music-making of profound beauty. Tenor John Potter, a core member of the Hilliard Ensemble, here sets out to "reclaim" for today's audience the music of John Dowland. Even considering the Elizabethan penchant for melancholy, the saturnine Dowland stands out as an artist preoccupied with death and intimate with despair in all its varieties. Music--as against our postmodern antidepressants--was the perfect anodyne, to which Dowland devoted himself both as performer (he was a famous lutenist) and composer; with his collection Lachrimae ("Tears"), he produced one of the single greatest landmarks of Western instrumental music predating the high baroque, centring around the famous melody Dowland gave to his malady (also heard in the two versions here of the song "Flow My Tears"). In Darkness Let Me Dwell juxtaposes numbers from Lachrimae with some of Dowland's songs, in which Potter becomes so steeped in each mood that it tells in wonderfully plaintive phrasing. Dowland originally wrote for lute and a consort of viols, but it's typical of this disc's innovatory spirit to hybridise baroque violin and lute with a quasi-"jazzy" double-bass, saxophone, and bass clarinet, inspiring a high order of improvisatory gestures. Sometimes the whole ensemble takes on a gritty, darkly reedy cast, while it can change to sunnier colours in the more radiant moments of "Lachrimae Amantis". These performances highlight the songs' directness and universality, drawing you in deeper with each hearing, and replaying the eternal paradox of sadness turning to solace. --Thomas May
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent well-balanced performances Comment: Superb performances throughout, but the soprano sax at the end of "Come Again" is outstanding. An excellent recording which I would recommend to anyone, either embarking on a Dowland collection or adding to one, as in my case. Customer Rating: Summary: Uncommonly beautiful, unsurpassed excellence Comment: The work of John Dowland is extremely straight-forward on paper though when it comes to melodic transition it requires only the best attention. Here, John Potter takes a grip and has assisted in producing possibly the greatest single disk of Dowland's work. Uncommonly beautiful, unsurpassed in excellence, the highlight is "Come Again" - which remains in the mind and heart longing for response. Mr Potter's vocal on "Come Again" particularly is so pure, it defies all limits and lays down a moving striking moment. "Come Again" when grouped with Andreas Scholl's recording "The Salley Gardens" (from the disk "Wayfaring Stranger"), is moving almost tearful in its surreal and haunting delivery. May I commend "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" as a complete experience and approach without risk or doubt. Once listened never forgotten. In terms of recording, it is clear recordings like these happen but once. "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" is a masterpiece. More Reviews