2006 Top 10 Recordings

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

John Dowland: Fancyes, Dreams and Spirits. Lute Music, 1, Nigel North, Lute. 
Naxos 8.557586.

John Dowland, had the curious honor this year of a pop star covering his music.
Sting regarded Dowland's music appropriate for Gordon Matthew Sumner's vocal 
skills, which in fact turned out to be contrafactual. I think Philip K. Dick's choice of 
vocal artiste (Linda Ronstadt) was closer to the mark. If you want Dowland's works
for voice and lute, seek out Emma Kirkby or Paul Elliot and good luck finding them. 
Dowland could be considered the profoundest of all expressions of pure, uncut 
melancholy to be found in music, even including such esoterica as duduk solos. 
His work had lyrics to match:

"In darkness let me dwell, the ground shall sorrow be,
The roof despair to bar all cheerful light from me,
The walls of marble black that moisten'd still shall weep,
My music hellish jarring sounds, to banish friendly sleep.
Thus wedded to my woes, and bedded to my tomb,
O, let me, living, living, die, till death do come."

The Naxos issue features Dowland's extraordinary solo works for lute.
Nigel North's playing is cool, clean and articulate, and the sound
is unusually focused and rich. This is the first of what promises to
be a complete set of Dowland's works for lute.