SOMM RECORDINGS celebrates the 400th anniversary of two Renaissance masters of the First Golden Age of English Song: John Dowland (1563-1626) and John Danyel (1564-1626). This recital for tenor and lute takes it's name from Dowland's song, Time Stands Still. The recording features British tenor Kieran White, who was a chorister at Wells Cathedral and held a Kohn Foundation Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. The Guardian has praised White's "pure, luminous tenor" and Opera Magazine his "extraordinary emotional clarity." He performs with long-time collaborator and friend, the Swiss-French lutenist Cédric Meyer, who holds two Master of Arts degrees and a postgraduate certificate with a specialisation in early music. Meyer plays here on his personally handcrafted eight-course Renaissance lute, based on an extant Italian lute from 1592. Lute songs, or "ayres," combine music and poetry to create songs that are filled with love, melancholy, and despair. John Dowland is acknowledged as the premier secular lute song composer of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with a special affinity for melancholy. It was a distinction he relished, even punning on his own name in the lute solo Semper Dowland, semper dolens - Always Dowland, always doleful. Dowland's status as a god of early music enthusiasts is matched by his astute business sense. To prevent unscrupulous printers from distributing his work in pirated editions, Dowland preserved his music by publishing it himself. The lute songs on this recording come from The First Booke of Songes or Ayres, published in 1597; The Second Booke, 1600; The Third and Last Booke, 1603; and A Musicall Banquet, published by Dowland's son Robert in 1610. The texts are predominantly by anonymous authors. Unlike his enterprising publication of lute songs, Dowland never printed a definitive collection of his solo lute music. The four lute solos recorded here come from varying sources, with the result that not all can be definitively attributed. Nevertheless, the solo instrumental pieces offer a taste of the highly refined art of lute playing at the turn of the 17th century. Dowland's superstar reputation is diametrically opposed to that of his exact contemporary, John Danyel, whose vocal music survives in a single, slender volume, First Booke of Songes or Ayres-twenty-one songs for the lute, viol, and voice-published in 1606. Danyel seems to have come from a wealthy family. He graduated from Oxford, served as a tutor and court musician, and his privacy could well have been by choice. Yet these few pieces that have survived illustrate the uniquely sensitive mind of a skilful composer. Despite being less prolific and remaining comparatively obscure, noted early music specialists consider every one of Danyel's extant works a masterpiece.

This series is as addictive as ever, and for newcomers to some of the finest baroque-era lute music, Volume 11 would be a good introduction.

I ask to review each new issue of Robert Barto’s series, comprising the complete lute sonatas of Silvius Leopold Weiss, even though I know every review is going to sound exactly the same: this is at or near the pinnacle of baroque lute music, nearly every sonata generous with its lyrical breadth, emotional engagement, and dance elements, and there could hardly be a better performer for the music than Robert Barto. By now, on the eleventh volume, the uniquely piquant sound of his thirteen-course baroque lute, constructed by New Yorker Andrew Rutherford, is as familiar to the series’ devotees as the sensitivity with which Barto plays it. Familiar, too, is the close miking which yields maybe the only gripe I’ve had about these discs: turn the volume up too much and you’ll hear the performer’s every breath.
 
The three sonatas on this disc present Weiss in his happier, more placid vein. Sonata No 96 packs seven tiny movements (mostly peppy court dances) into fifteen minutes, posing fewer challenges to the performer but offering the listener bite-sized delights. No 39 in C, by contrast, is known as the ‘Partita Grande’ because it takes up nearly a half-hour. In it Weiss takes care to work out his material to an unusual degree of development, including a courante with a long, leaping main theme which seems to flow as one stream through the movement, and a weighty presto finale whose complexes of motifs are dispatched with Barto’s typical unruffled clarity. Sonata No 30 opens with a free-form prelude which the booklet says is representative of Weiss’s improvisatory way with the form. The improvisational feel returns at the end, in a sprightly movement titled ‘Le Sans Souci’ that bounds along for just two-and-a-half minutes.
 
The sound is intimate and warm; the breathing mentioned earlier doesn’t much bother me, to be honest. This isn’t concert-hall music anyway. The booklet essay provides a very good introduction to the enterprise. To sum up: Weiss’s sonatas may not always feature the concentrated intellectual and emotional power of the solo sonatas by Bach, but each has its own delights and pleasures. I am a hopeless addict to this music and to the outstandingly high quality with which it is presented; there are a great many sonatas left to record even after eleven CDs, and if MusicWeb International doesn’t keep sending me review copies the alternative may be bankruptcy.
 
-- Brian Reinhart, MusicWeb International

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Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750) wrote approximately 83 billion lute sonatas, and this release constitutes Volume 11 in Naxos' ongoing complete series. The tray card describes them as "prodigiously attractive works of great emotional power." Attractive they certainly are, very much so, but "great emotional power"?--not so much. Let's face it: there's only so much that you can do with an overture or prelude and a standard suite of baroque dances--unless you're Bach, of course, and Weiss may have been an exact contemporary but he was no Bach.

That said, there is a wide range of size and shape to these three sonatas. No. 39, the "Partita Grande", is indeed substantial, lasting nearly half an hour and containing some extensively developed movements (including the virtuosic concluding Presto). The other two works, while ostensibly lighter in tone, pack a lot of variety into their respective groupings of seven movements apiece. Certainly Robert Barto plays beautifully, with crystal clear articulation and sweet timbre on a lovely-sounding baroque instrument.

I wouldn't listen to all 20 tracks at a sitting, but this well recorded disc does make great background to a Sunday drive (I tried it), and will keep you entertained whenever your attention becomes engaged. Really, there's no need to make greater claims for this music than it deserves: it's good stuff, performed with great insight and sympathy. Surely that's enough.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The Lute was introduced into Europe from the Easy during the Medieval Era and maintained it's popularity throughout the seventeenth century. The repertoire of songs for voice and lute accompaniment composed during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was extensive, with European countries developing their own individual styles.

The songs included in this album come from diverse origins, united by the subtle narrative, poetic and musical threads all common to the Spanish repertoire. Pieces of literary traditions from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries are intermingled with others belonging to folklore, all of them taken from non-Spanish sources, and organized into five thematic groups, alternating between each other as if they were refined panels in a Renaissance altarpiece. Engaging with this music involves entering a singularly vast field, rich with centuries old intersections, borrowings and appropriations between cultures; a natural occurrence, considering the identity of the old American colonial territories and their population- their complex and mixed nature. Through this program, the artist aims to expose the varied processes of appropriation and transculturation, especially significant to the Latin American colonial repertoire, informed by the interpretive tradition that Jonatan Alvarado inherited and built between the spheres of the popular and the academic.

The famous Swiss-American lute player Peter Croton plays on his Carpe Diem debut a collection of fantasias by the two Italian lute-composers Francesco Spinacino & Francesco da Milano. The 15th century saw the lute emerge as a solo instrument, and the terms ricer car and fantasia were used for works created without preexisting models. The ability to improvise was apparently as widespread then as it is in jazz today. Peter Croton, also known for his contemporary and jazz-related musical projects, explores this beautiful musical world with the heart of a true improviser, free of limiting preconceptions and sparkling with creativity.

Playing a golden-toned 10-course lute and using original manuscript sources or his own sensitive reconstructions, British lutenist Nigel North presents a delightful recital of dances by Robert Johnson, a contemporary of Shakespeare for whose plays he wrote songs and incidental music. Although they use the old forms of pavan, galliard, almain and fantasie, Johnson’s exquisite works tend towards the more expansive, lyrical style that would later flourish in the Baroque period.
Nigel North’s critically acclaimed boxed set of Dowland’s Complete Lute Music is also available (Naxos 8.504016).

No question, recordings of lute music are primarily snapped up by specialists and serious fans of the instrument--it's probably a rare thing for an undecided record store shopper to just impulsively pick up and purchase such a disc as this perfectly fine program of music from "Jane Pickeringe's Lute Book". However, owing to the extraordinary talents of lutenist Jacob Heringman and the eight- and ten-course lutes featured on this recording, it's not inconceivable that a sympathetic listener would be drawn to this gentle, genteel, and agreeably tuneful music and to the ear-friendly sound. Although most of the represented works are by anonymous early-17th century composers, such luminaries as Byrd and Dowland appear in this mysterious collector's manuscript.


These 30 works (nearly 75 minutes' worth!) are characterized by nothing if not variety of mood and rhythmic structure, contained in all manner of familiar forms of the period--allemande, galliard, horn-pipe, pavane, fantasia. Heringman, whose credits include more than 50 recordings, many in collaboration with major artists, is a perfect guide to this repertoire. His playing is a marvel of clarity and evenness of articulation across registers, but he also is careful to bring the melody appropriate prominence against subordinate accompanying figures when required. His always tasteful ornaments and ability to obtain colors from a single instrument that make us wonder if we're actually hearing two add up to a rare and entertaining listening experience--nothing earth-shaking or ground-breaking, just solid music-making. The sound is quite resonant yet captures all the close-up detail we could ask for with no distracting squeaking or scraping. [6/29/2002]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

This outstanding album of Italian Renaissance songs is beautifully performed with expert performance practice by soprano Jessica Gould and lute and chitarrone player Diego Cantalupi. Works by Benedetto Ferrari, Tanquinio Merula, Giovanni Felice Sances, and others are featured. Jessica Gould has wowed audiences and critics across the globe with her impressive interpretations of early music. “A dramatic intensity that honored the texts.” (The New York Times) “Dazzling… expansive range, coloratura facility, and multi-hued, powerful sound” (Seen and Heard International) “Astonishing passage and ornaments, executed to perfection” (Lute News, UK) Diego Cantalupi was born in Milano and studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano, and the Conservatorio di Parma. He holds a degree in lute performance.

The manuscript MS 73 Klagenfurt was found by baroque-violinist Veronika Skulpik and is a little treasure of baroque violin music. Almost all of the manuscript pieces are for a violin in scordatura tuning, although this is not always indicated. With some degree of certainty, the above-mentioned manuscripts can prove that the anonymous authors moved in the circle of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer.

In John Dowland’s both intimate and expressive songs it’s all about ‘speaking harmony’. This is what vocalist David Munderloh and lutenist Julian Behr, in their merging of voice with lute, attempt to impart as they search for the composer’s essence in this album of select songs from this Renaissance master, interspersed with a handful of instrumental lute solos. Currently residing in Basel, Switzerland, American tenor and former Chanticleer member David Munderloh's repertoire includes music of several musical eras, from medieval to 19th c. lieder as well as modern contemporary.

Michelagnolo/Michelangelo Galilei was born in 1575 as the second son of the influential music theoretician Vincenzo Galilei and was the younger brother of Galileo Galilei. Michelangelo, who was considered a musical prodigy during his youth, embarked on the career of a professional lutenist and, following several stations in Poland and Lithuania, entered the service of the Court Orchestra of Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria in Munich on 16 February 1607. Axel Wolf presents here Galilei's Primo libro d´intavolatura di liuto, Munich 1620. The German lutenist, Axel Wolf, studied with Hans Michael Koch and Rolf Lislevand. As a member of the ensemble "La Sfondrata" he was a prizewinner at the 1992 International Competition for Early Music Ensembles in Utrecht, Netherlands. In the course of his concert career Axel Wolf has made appearances at international festivals in Boston, Bruges, Utrecht, Prague, Edinburgh and Innsbruck, as well as appearances in Rome, Tokyo, New York and Tel Aviv as soloist or member of ensembles such as Musica Fiata Koln, Freiburger Barockorchester, Ars Antiqua Austria and The English Concert London.

The plectrum lute duo was one of the most popular ensembles for professional instrumentalists in late 15th-century Western Europe. This recording presents for the first time the bulk of a surviving repertoire that can arguably be considered for the lute duo, performed on two equal plectrum lutes or with a combination of lute and gittern- a smaller member of the lute family. The album, inspired by the Ferrarese virtuoso Pietrobono dal Chitarino (c. 1417-1497), acclaimed in his lifetime as ‘the foremost lutenist in the world,’ includes the earliest printed lute duos by Francesco Spinacino and Joan Ambrosio Dalza and the two-voice instrumental works by Johannes Tinctoris. The often highly ornamented instrumental duos are mostly reworkings of songs, some of which are given here in a performance with the singer Grace Newcombe to provide the context for the lute arrangements that follow.

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REVIEWS:

Marc Lewon and Paul Kieffer make a marvellous duo, with a lot of passages of truly mind-blowing skill and speed. They have assembled the repertory in glorious performances.

– Gramophone

Here we have a lovely collection of the earliest surviving repertoire for lute duo, some of it also for voice. This is a very enjoyable programme and an opportunity to hear fine performances of music few are likely to be familiar with.

– Lark Reviews

Bridging Tradition and Innovation: This album redefines lute music by blending the instrument's rich historical sound with electronic textures. A Fusion of Acoustic and Electronic: Bergmuller merges the lute's intricate, classical tones with subtle electronic layers?. For both contemporary and classical music audiences.

LADY MAGGIE’S LILT: MUSIC FROM THE LUTE BOOK OF LADY MARGARET WEMYSS, 1629-1648 • Martin Eastwell (lt) • MMC 104 (62:53)


Uniquely in my experience, this disc contains 45 short pieces, mostly anonymous, a body of work that comprises about half of what has been found in the book of the Scottish Lady Margaret Wemyss, who started a book of music and poems when she was 12. Many of the tunes played here are simple arrangements of Scottish tunes: Martin Eastwell suggests that the book is particularly interesting for the insights it provides into Scottish folk music. Eastwell has added seven preludes of his own devising to groups of pieces he feels hold together. He has also added embellishments to I Never Knew I Loved Thee , and borrowed the last piece, The Flowers of the Forest from another contemporary Scottish book. Flowers was written as an elegy for Lady Margaret. Half of the collection, according to Eastwell, is of French origin: He includes pieces by Gaultier, Lespine, Mesangeau, Dufault, and de Chancy. Many of the pieces, such as The Corbie and the Pigot, are very simple though pretty. There are laments, and sprightly songs like Fair and Louky. The competition here is with a disc by Jakob Lindberg, though that disc only duplicates some of the music found here. Lindberg’s Lady Binnis Lilt is much more folksy and dance-like than is Eastwell’s rendition. There’s something a little wild about Lindberg’s playing. In these small pieces, Eastwell is restrained and lyrical. The disc may not contain towering masterpieces, but it surely is pleasant to listen to.


FANFARE: Michael Ullman

The Antonio Castiglione (Casteliono) anthology, printed for the lute in Milan in 1536, is one of the most important documents of the period, testifying to how relevant the use of this instrument became - the very first to be dedicated 'intavolatura' - starting the diffusion for that 'home' use of music that will be the fortune of the main printers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The skill and knowledge of the performance practice of luteist Paolo Cherici - already a star of the interpretation of the music by Vincenzo Capirola (TC470301) - reveal to us in all it's freshness this musical cross-section of the Italian renaissance through the sounds and timbres of the lute and the vihuela. Paolo Cherici studied guitar under Ruggero Chiesa, then lute at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with Hopkinson Smith and Eugen M. Combois. He has made a large number of recordings, some of which have received high honors. He currently teaches at the Milan Conservatory.

Soprano Ruby Hughes, celebrated for the profound "understanding and stylishness" (Gramophone) she brings to her artistry, has a distinguished discography of recitals showcasing the exquisite beauty of her voice. She is particularly known for her carefully curated programs that weave together works from diverse eras. In Amidst the Shades, Hughes reunites with gambist Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann and lutenist Jonas Nordberg. The same inspiring sonic constellation contributed to the success of Heroines of Love and Loss (BIS-2248). This new recital explores their shared passion for Elizabethan music, which served as the catalyst for the program's creation. The contemplative and melancholic songs of John Dowland form the foundation, leading to works by Robert Johnson and John Danyel, interwoven with Purcell's intimate vocal pieces. Seeking to further enrich the repertoire for lute and voice, Hughes commissioned new works from Errollyn Wallen and Deborah Pritchard, setting texts by William Shakespeare. She also obtained permission from Cheryl Frances-Hoad to arrange one of her existing compositions for this unique ensemble. Amidst the Shades promises a recital brimming with nuanced expression and delicate sonic colors.