Recommend me John Dowland recordings

[mjwal]

I've got various volumes of both O'Dette and North (can't specify as my main collection is elsewhere), and I found them both fine, so the North seems to be a no-brainer at the price.
Coming back to D's vocal airs: apart from (the essential) Deller and Oberlin, above all the unavailable Cuénod/Jacottet, one of my favourite recordings of all time and not just for him singing, I cherish the various recordings made by Peter Pears w/Julian Bream. I don't know if they were all reissued on CD, I have one RCA CD and a box collection on LP - the Bream ensemble plays wonderfully too. I don't know why exactly, but I was curiously uninvolved by Andreas Scholl's take on Dowland - lacking in personality, perhaps.
The Sting record is an absolute abomination for me, a grotesque travesty.

[zauberflöte]

I would snatch up anything by Emma Kirkby in this repertoire. The aforementioned complete Rooley set features her. I know at least one single CD of selections from it exists.

One of my favorite recordings of hers is Time Stands Still, a selection of Dowland and others from that era performed live. I seem to lack the ability to figure out how to post photos so I just offer urls:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Stands-Still-John-Dowland/dp/B000002ZIN/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1343732623&sr=1-1

And for all Dowland there's The English Orpheus:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Dowland-English-Orpheus-ANTHONY/dp/B00004VFXL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1343732825&sr=1-1

[TheGSMoeller]

O'Dette is very good, and North is very good, can't really go wrong with either. If you enjoy O'Dette then I would recommend this disc of songs, it features tenor Nigel Rogers, and although I prefer a countertenor/soprano on these pieces, these performances are beautiful...




Speaking of countertenor, this one with Lesne has been one of my favorites of late...




And for full recordings of Lachrimae I always suggest these two fine but quite different sounding performances, Dowland Consort's tone is deep and full while the Parely of Instruments uses baroque violins giving it a brighter quality..

[Coopmv]

No problem for a CD encounter if you can shell out for a complete set:

This set is probably the most comprehensive set out there and I have owned it for a few years ...

[Mandryka]

The first complete recording of the Lachrimae was released in 1962 by the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Viol Quintet. It has just been transfered and is available on symohonyshare. Take it if you can. It's tremendous. Dowland was absolutely clear in his dedication that the point of the music has to do with emotional variety. SCB understand how to pull this off better than nearly everyone else I've heard.

[Jo498]

Among my favorites are Agnew's (with great booklets and lavish illustrations), but maybe hard to find as actual discs (two of Dowland's and one mixed recital) and a mixed anthology with Julianne Baird, also very nicely presented. I have to check some other anthologies when I have more time, but these are highly recommended

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