Music for voice and lute, from the songbook compiled by Robert Dowland (1591-1641), son of the great English lutenist-composer. Selections include music by John Dowland, Guillaume Tessier, Daniel Batchelar, Giulio Caccini, Pierre Guédron and more. Crystal clear delivery of the songs by Monika Mauch, last heard on ECM with the Hilliard Ensemble on “Morimur” and peerless lute-playing from early music expert Nigel North who makes his ECM debut here, and also contributes liner notes.
Musical Banquet
Monika Mauch, Nigel North
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02:28 - 2Lady if you so spite me
02:18 - 3Dovrò dunque morire? (Must I then die?)
02:03 - 4Amarilli mia bella (My fair Amaryllis)
02:43 - 5Si le parler et le silence (If words and silence)
04:09 - 6Se di farmi morire (If you think to cause my death)
01:47 - 7O eyes, leave off your weeping
03:02 - 8Vuestros ojos tienen d'Amor (Your eyes hold I know not what of Love)
01:28 - 9In a grove most rich of shade
04:05 - 10Lady Rich, her Galliard
01:57 - 11Go my flock, go get you hence
03:49 - 12O bella più che le stelle (Oh fairer than the stars of Diana)
01:40 - 13My heavy sprite
02:41 - 14Galliard
01:46 - 15To plead my faith
02:11 - 16Ce penser qui sans fin tirannise ma vie (This thought which endlessly governs my life)
03:39 - 17O dear life, when shall it be?
03:00 - 18Sir Robert Sidney, his Galliard
02:29 - 19Change thy mind since she doth change
02:41 - 20Sir Thomas Monson, his Pavin and Galliard
07:56 - 21Vous que le Bonheur rappelle (You whom Happiness recalls)
01:39 - 22In darkness let me dwell
04:06 - 23Sta notte mi sognava (Last night I dreamed)
02:25 - 24Far from triumphing court
06:40
Of the English Ayres in The Musical Banquet three are by John Dowland himself, including the famous and intensely melancholy "In darkness let me dwell". Two other themes characterise the songs which Robert Dowland chose: settings of Philip Sidney’s poem "Astrophil and Stella" one of many love poems about Sidney’s unfulfilled love for Penelope, Lady Rich. Secondly there is Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, the most notorious of Queen Elizabeth’s young favourites.
John Dowland had travelled widely in Europe, and the English court was itself truly international with many visitors from abroad, so it is not at all surprising to find such gems as the exquisite French Airs by Guédron, versions of Italian monodic songs by the renowned Giulio Caccini (including "Amarilli, mia bella") side by side with the lyrical and rhythmically stimulating songs from Spain by anonymous composers.
Monika Mauch’s and Nigel North’s subtle recording of this important cross section of Renaissance European song offers a welcome addition to the ECM discography which has addressed music from the period around 1600 since almost twenty years. The first two issues of John Potter’s Dowland project were dedicated to the music of John Dowland and his English and Italian contemporaries while both Rolf Lislevand’s “Nuove musiche” (which borrowed its title from Giulio Caccini’s famous publication) and Steven Stubbs’ “Teatro Lirico” based their improvisational music on instrumental scores from the same era.
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