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Blame Not My Lute: Elizabethan Lute Music and Poetry / McFarlane, Aubry Davis
Sono Luminus

Blame Not My Lute: Elizabethan Lute Music and Poetry / McFarlane, Aubry Davis

$18.99

Details

Composer
DOWLAND, SHAKESPERE, BYRD
Artist
Mcfarlane, Davis
Format
CD
Label
Sono Luminus
Released
Feb 23, 2010
Catalog #
DSL-92105
UPC
053479210524

About

REVIEWS:

This is something of a concept album. It’s also a programme that has been toured and performed in concert many times and reaches fruition as a disc. It takes Elizabethan and Jacobean lute music and marries it to the poetry and theatre of the time. Sometimes a single track is given over to verse or a short scene from a play, spoken by Robert Aubry Davis; but also we hear a speech or lyric spoken above, as it were, lute accompaniment. This sometimes makes things difficult to judge artistically vis a vis Ronn McFarlane’s lute playing, but it’s a disc to be measured against a rather wider canvass than usual, a multi-disciplinary words and music presentation.

Most of the music is by Dowland, but there is one piece by Campion, another by Byrd and others by our old pal, Anonymous. The theatrical performances derive from Shakespeare - Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona - as well as Thomas Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness. There are poems by Wyatt, with which we begin and end, Robert Herrick and Samuel Daniel. Thomas D’Urfey’s wickedly naughty The Wanton Trick is here too.

As an example of a theatrical presentation it works well. Whether it has longevity on disc is a moot point, because some of the extracts are very brief, and also because the lute, played behind the voice, is demonstrably there for evocative effect. Ronn McFarlane has a number of discs to his name of lute music and is indeed a fine player. There are times when he inclined to the brusque and overly metrical - one thinks of Mrs Winter’s Jump for example; the woman in question must have been quite a motoric figure if his playing is anything to go by.

Next we have the spoken element. The method in the Wyatt ‘title track’, and others, is this. Davis speaks the first stanza, and then McFarlane joins in behind him. Note though that they were separately recorded.


The texts are printed in full, and the booklet has been nicely designed and amusingly written (by Davis). Indeed the disc is cleverly programmed.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Tracklist 22 tracks

  1. 1 Bonny Sweet Boy 01:14
    Track
    1
    Title
    Bonny Sweet Boy
    Duration
    01:14
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  2. 2 Blame Not My Lute 02:55
    Track
    2
    Title
    Blame Not My Lute
    Duration
    02:55
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  3. 3 Lady Hunsdon's Puffe, P. 54 01:25
    Track
    3
    Title
    Lady Hunsdon's Puffe, P. 54
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  4. 4 Henry VIII: Act 3: The Queen's Apartments (music: Melancholy Galliard by J. Dowland) 03:00
    Track
    4
    Title
    Henry VIII: Act 3: The Queen's Apartments (music: Melancholy Galliard by J. Dowland)
    Duration
    03:00
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  5. 5 Kemp's Jig 01:12
    Track
    5
    Title
    Kemp's Jig
    Duration
    01:12
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  6. 6 Packington's Pound 01:48
    Track
    6
    Title
    Packington's Pound
    Duration
    01:48
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  7. 7 A Woman Killed With Kindness 02:43
    Track
    7
    Title
    A Woman Killed With Kindness
    Duration
    02:43
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Martin Goldsmith, Emily Townley, Ronn McFarlane
  8. 8 Lachrimae, P. 15 04:47
    Track
    8
    Title
    Lachrimae, P. 15
    Duration
    04:47
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  9. 9 The Taming of the Shrew, Act II: Scene 1 01:14
    Track
    9
    Title
    The Taming of the Shrew, Act II: Scene 1
    Duration
    01:14
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Martin Goldsmith
  10. 10 Mrs. Winter's Jump, P. 55 00:48
    Track
    10
    Title
    Mrs. Winter's Jump, P. 55
    Duration
    00:48
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  11. 11 Sonnet LVII: Like As the Lute (music: Go from my window, P. 64 by J. Dowland) 02:32
    Track
    11
    Title
    Sonnet LVII: Like As the Lute (music: Go from my window, P. 64 by J. Dowland)
    Duration
    02:32
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  12. 12 When to her lute Corinna sings 01:07
    Track
    12
    Title
    When to her lute Corinna sings
    Duration
    01:07
    Composer
    Thomas Campion
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  13. 13 My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home, P. 66 01:18
    Track
    13
    Title
    My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home, P. 66
    Duration
    01:18
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  14. 14 Upon Julia's Voice 00:24
    Track
    14
    Title
    Upon Julia's Voice
    Duration
    00:24
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis
  15. 15 Pavana in F Major, No. 1, "Bray" (arr. F. Cutting) 04:51
    Track
    15
    Title
    Pavana in F Major, No. 1, "Bray" (arr. F. Cutting)
    Duration
    04:51
    Composer
    William Byrd
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  16. 16 If Music and Sweet Poetry Agree (music: Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard, P. 19 by J. Dowland) 02:22
    Track
    16
    Title
    If Music and Sweet Poetry Agree (music: Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard, P. 19 by J. Dowland)
    Duration
    02:22
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  17. 17 The Wanton Trick 02:28
    Track
    17
    Title
    The Wanton Trick
    Duration
    02:28
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  18. 18 The 2 Gentlemen of Verona, Act III: Scene 2 00:24
    Track
    18
    Title
    The 2 Gentlemen of Verona, Act III: Scene 2
    Duration
    00:24
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis
  19. 19 Fantasia No. 7 in D Minor 03:10
    Track
    19
    Title
    Fantasia No. 7 in D Minor
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  20. 20 Nosce Teipsum: Objection 1 - Answer - Objection 2 - Answer (music: Fortune my foe, P. 62 by J. Dowland) 04:44
    Track
    20
    Title
    Nosce Teipsum: Objection 1 - Answer - Objection 2 - Answer (music: Fortune my foe, P. 62 by J. Dowland)
    Duration
    04:44
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane
  21. 21 The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard, P. 41 01:13
    Track
    21
    Title
    The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard, P. 41
    Duration
    01:13
    Composer
    John Dowland
    Performer
    Ronn McFarlane
  22. 22 My lute awake (music: Tarleton's Resurrection, P. 59 by J. Dowland) 04:51
    Track
    22
    Title
    My lute awake (music: Tarleton's Resurrection, P. 59 by J. Dowland)
    Duration
    04:51
    Performer
    Robert Aubry Davis, Ronn McFarlane