Danyel reviews
A Pleasing Melancholy: Chelys Consort of Viols
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.
Flow My Tears
Themes of love and loss pervade this varied sequence of English lute songs both past and present. Theatre ditties by the Virgin Queen’s court lutenist Robert Johnson give way to funeral laments by his contemporary John Danyel epitomising the melancholy spirit of the age, while wistful love songs and lute solos by Dowland contrast with playful militaristic viol pieces by the quirky soldier-composer Tobias Hume.