Down with Dowland

Started by TheGSMoeller, May 20, 2014, 05:54:45 PM

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Mandryka

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on November 14, 2018, 11:18:01 AM


A very nice recording that has just come out, and a welcome addition to the small list of recordings of the Books of Songs complete in one recording and as solo songs. Let's hope for a Third Book of Songs in this format soon.

I don't like her voice! But that's such a personal thing it's hardly worth stating. 
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

calyptorhynchus

Quote from: Mandryka on November 15, 2018, 07:53:52 AM
I don't like her voice! But that's such a personal thing it's hardly worth stating.

I know, I'm very fussy about voices (and because I'm a poet I'm very sensitive to poor lyrics, so what with those two bugs I barely listen to vocal music). When the range gets high for Grace Davidson on this CD she becomes less intelligible. However, I know the lyrics of these songs so well that isn't much of a problem for me (and the CD does have the full lyrics).
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

calyptorhynchus

Just thinking, does anyone know of a discography of Elizabethan song books? All I can find online are pages listing disks by individual artists or individual composers.
I'm wanting a list of complete or near complete recordings of Elizabethan song books. I have five or six such disks in my collection, was just wondering if there are any others.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Mandryka

#43


He's got an adorable low voice, he sings in a refined and expressive way, the accompaniment, whether by lute or by consort, is gorgeous. Worth worth a listen when you're in the mood. 

It's a bit like renaissance music as easy listening I think, your granny would love it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing at all.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Jo498

Frederiksen is one of the very few low voices who have done this repertory, if I am not mistaken.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

And get this, very nice one for bass and soprano

https://www.youtube.com/v/8ze90W7xi5A

from this

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

milk

Which Dowland song recordings are the least opera-y? I wanna drown in a dizzy afternoon of melancholy.

Mandryka

Quote from: milk on June 24, 2020, 08:20:38 PM
Which Dowland song recordings are the least opera-y? I wanna drown in a dizzy afternoon of melancholy.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

milk


vers la flamme

I'm really into the Hilliard Dowland disc on EMI. Beautiful songs. Now I want more. What are some essential Dowland recordings? For the lute music I've been looking at Nigel North's set on Naxos. What about the viol consort music and the like?

Mandryka

Everyone says that this is interesting because of something special in Hopkinson Smith's approach to the lute, but I'm not noticing any of that, I just love the timbre of Mariana Flores's voice

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#52
Quote from: vers la flamme on September 04, 2020, 01:56:08 AM
I'm really into the Hilliard Dowland disc on EMI. Beautiful songs. Now I want more. What are some essential Dowland recordings? For the lute music I've been looking at Nigel North's set on Naxos. What about the viol consort music and the like?

One thing I would say is this: when you're deciding on recordings of the Lachrimae you need to decide whether you want all seven of them played as a continuous cycle, or whether you want to have other pieces interleaved.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Scion7

#53


Akkerman, best known as one-half of the main force behind the Dutch rock group Focus,
has phenomenal technique, and there are three Dowland pieces on this eclectic record: Britannia 3:55, The Earl Of Derby, His Galliard 1:36, and A Galliard 1:31. 
Unfortunately, he hasn't done anything much of interest post-1981 or so.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

vers la flamme

Quote from: Mandryka on September 07, 2020, 11:58:30 PM
One thing I would say is this: when you're deciding on recordings of the Lachrimae you need to decide whether you want all seven of them played as a continuous cycle, or whether you want to have other pieces interleaved.

Well, what are my options? I've been looking at the Savall.

Ras

Quote from: vers la flamme on September 04, 2020, 01:56:08 AM
I'm really into the Hilliard Dowland disc on EMI. Beautiful songs. Now I want more. What are some essential Dowland recordings? For the lute music I've been looking at Nigel North's set on Naxos. What about the viol consort music and the like?

12 cd box from Decca will get you started:
[asin]B000004CYV[/asin]
"Music is life and, like it, inextinguishable." - Carl Nielsen

Mandryka

#56
Quote from: vers la flamme on September 08, 2020, 01:56:19 AM
I've been looking at the Savall.

The opening Lachrimae fantasy is one of the great great moments of viol music on record, it is unforgettable, it grabs you by the throat.

The rest may not quite live up to this auspicious beginning, but it is nonetheless an outstanding disc, both for the colourful and melting viols and, most of all, for José Miguel Morino's lute. I'd say that the lute contribution is the best I can remember hearing, full of life. The approach to making the viols make musical phrases is the same throughout all the fantasies, but Savall is very aware that each piece has its own mood - it's not just a sequence of seven sad movements, far from it.  It is very well recorded.

Savall intersperses the Lachrimae with various jolly things by Dowland, galiards. But these days that probably isn't an issue, you can create your own tracklist out of the CD if that way inclined.

Quote from: vers la flamme on September 08, 2020, 01:56:19 AM
Well, what are my options?

Too many, Savall is a good place to start I think.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

vers la flamme

Quote from: Mandryka on September 08, 2020, 10:03:13 AM
The opening Lachrimae fantasy is one of the great great moments of viol music on record, it is unforgettable, it grabs you by the throat.

The rest may not quite live up to this auspicious beginning, but it is nonetheless an outstanding disc, both for the colourful and melting viols and, most of all, for José Miguel Morino's lute. I'd say that the lute contribution is the best I can remember hearing, full of life. The approach to making the viols make musical phrases is the same throughout all the fantasies, but Savall is very aware that each piece has its own mood - it's not just a sequence of seven sad movements, far from it.  It is very well recorded.

Savall intersperses the Lachrimae with various jolly things by Dowland, galiards. But these days that probably isn't an issue, you can create your own tracklist out of the CD if that way inclined.

Too many, Savall is a good place to start I think.

Sold. Sounds amazing! I'll try and find it cheaply, but I'm curious, is the Astrée recording the same thing as the one that was released later on AliaVox?

@Ras, that looks killer!

Que

Quote from: Ras on September 08, 2020, 05:07:16 AM
12 cd box from Decca will get you started:
[asin]B000004CYV[/asin]

Absolutely indispensable  - notably for the songs.

Q

Mandryka

Quote from: vers la flamme on September 08, 2020, 02:55:46 PM
Sold. Sounds amazing! I'll try and find it cheaply, but I'm curious, is the Astrée recording the same thing as the one that was released later on AliaVox?

@Ras, that looks killer!

I think so.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen