Saturday 29 July 2017

Peaceful Plucking

There's an essentially placid, gentle quality to the music-making of a classical guitar or lute.  Even as the player's fingers are racing up and down the fingerboard, the sounds that emerge always assume an innately soothing character.

It's no surprise, then, that I will turn to this kind of music when I want to have something relaxing and gentle to help me wind down after a difficult day.

A few months back I downloaded (from Naxos) a two-disc set of solo lute music by the Elizabethan English composer, John Dowland (I later discovered that there are two more discs from the same source awaiting my attention).  These pieces are, in the main, short dances or songs for solo voice and lute accompaniment .  Dowland very much followed the fashion of the time by infusing his texts and music with melancholy, sighing, weeping, and other such emotions.

But the result is by no means depressing.  In this purely instrumental collection, lutenist Nigel North maintains a sprightly sparkle in his playing that lifts the music beyond a mere wallow in despair.  In any case, some of the dances are more courtly by intention than personal -- which makes sense when you consider Dowland's years as court lutenist and composer to King Christian IV of Denmark and later to King James I of England.

At the heart of the collection is the cycle which he entitled Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares, Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans (the French spelling "pavane" is more commonly used today)The basis for this work is his earlier song Flow my teares.  It's probably one of the best-known tunes in all of Renaissance instrumental music, not least because a number of other composers have used it as a basis for theme-and-variations compositions.  

As well as the "seaven teares," Dowland's volume contains an additional 14 compositions including nine more upbeat galiards (galliard) and two almands (allemande).  These works are dedicated to various royal, noble, or wealthy (one presumes) patrons of Dowland's music.

The sound on these bargain discs is excellent, the lute very clear and present in a realistic soundspace, but not so close as to become clangorous.  Nigel North's playing, including his discreet and effective use of ornamentation, is a continual delight.  I realize that some people might find it a bit taxing to listen to the seven quite varied versions of the Lachrimae all in one go, as they are presented on the recording.  Apart from that the entire set is an excellent introduction to a distant and relatively little-known musical byway -- but a very rewarding one.