Post Description

Dowland - A Pleasing Melancholy  24-96



Dowland: Lachrimae; Flow my Tears; If Floods of Tears Could Cleanse My Follies Past; Mourn, Mourn, Day is with Darkness Fled; Sorrow, Stay; plus works by Danyel, Holborne, Jones, Simpson and Hume
Emma Kirkby (soprano), James Akers (lute); Chelys Consort of Viols
BIS Records BIS-2283 (hybrid CD/SACD)

With their wistful melodies and delicate accompaniments, the songs on this disc by arch melancholic John Dowland and his doleful contemporaries are the perfect showcase for the voice of Emma Kirkby – now in the Autumn of its beauty. Along with Dowland’s No. 1 ‘blues’ song Flow my tears and the sensuous Lachrimae Pavans it inspired are more shadowy works by Tobias Hume, John Danyel, Anthony Holborne and Robert Jones, many of them alluding to Dowland’s plangent Tears and infused with the pervasive melancholia that was so much the spirit of the age.

Kirkby, with her half-a-century’s experience in this repertoire, lends perceptive insights both to the poetic texts and the musical settings. Words are beautifully etched with a dark, inky tone that paints the music’s various shades of blue. The vocal attack may not be as precise as it once was, and a few mannerisms have crept into her performances – little swoops and portamenti, which the rather close-placed mic enhances – yet her voice retains its distinctively crystalline quality.

A Pleasing Melancholy - 01. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 1, Lachrimæ antiquæ Flow My Tears.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 02. Book of Songs, Book 2 No. 2, Flow My Tears.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 03. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 2, Lachrimæ antiquæ novæ.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 04. Lie Down Poor Heart.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 05. Book of Songs, Book 2 No. 2, If Floods of Tears Could Cleanse My Follies Past.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 06. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 3, Lachrimæ gementes.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 07. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 4, Lachrimæ tristes.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 08. Book of Songs, Book 2 No. 5, Mourn, Mourn, Day Is with Darkness Fled.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 09. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 21, Mr. George Whitehead His Almand.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 10. What Greater Grief.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 11. Paduan (After J. Dowland).flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 12. Volta (After J. Dowland).flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 13. Book of Songs, Book 2 No. 3, Sorrow, Stay (Arr. William Wigthorpe).flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 14. Eyes Look No More.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 15. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 5, Lachrimæ coactæ.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 16. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 6, Lachrimæ amantis.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 17. My Heavy Sprite (Arr. Ibrahim Aziz).flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 18. If I Could Shut the Gate Against My Thoughts.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - 19. Lachrimæ Seven Tears No. 7, Lachrimæ veræ.flac
A Pleasing Melancholy - Booklet.pdf
A Pleasing Melancholy - Folder.jpg
A Pleasing Melancholy - Poster's Note.txt