MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


SACD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

John DOWLAND (1563-1626)
The Complete Solo Lute Music
The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, Her Galliard
The Right Honourable Earl of Essex, His Galliard
The Right Honourable The Lady Clifton’s Spirit
Sir John Smith, His Almain
Sir John Langton’s Pavan
The Most High and Mighty Christianus the Fourth, King of Denmark, His Galliard
The Right Honourable Ferdinando Earl of Derby, His Galliard
Sir Henry Guilforde, His Almain
The Right Honourable The Lady Rich, Her Galliard
A Fantasie
The Right Honourable The Lord Viscount Lisle, His Galliard
A Piece Without Title
The Lady Russell’s Pavan
Mr. Knight’s Galliard
A Pavan
Sir John Souch’s Galliard
Giles Hobie’s Galliard
Farewell
A Galliard
Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe
A Galliard (on a galliard by Daniel Bacheler)
Lachrimę
Galliard to Lachrimę
Forlorn Hope Fancy
Walsingham
Mrs. Vaux Galliard
Mrs. Vaux Jig
A Fancy
A Galliard
The Shoemaker’s Wife
A Fancy
Mrs. Brigide Fleetwood’s Pavan alias Solus Sine Sola
Mignarda
Langton’s Galliard
Loth to Depart
A Fancy
Robin
A Pavan
A Galliard
Farewell (An ‘In Nomine’)
Mrs. Norrish’s Delight
A Coy Toy
Fortune
Tarleton’s Riserrectione
Piper’s Pavan
Captain Digorie Piper’s Galliard
Mrs. Nichols’ Almain
Mrs. White’s Thing
Mrs. White’s Nothing
John Dowland’s Galliard
Mounsier’s Almain
Melancholy Galliard
Lord Strang’s March
Dr. Case’s Pavan
Dowland’s First Galliard
Orlando Sleepeth
A Dream
A Galliard (on Walsingham)
A Galliard
An Almain
Tarleton’s Jig
Complaint
A Galliard
Dowlands Galliard
Semper Dowland Semper Dolens
Go From My Window
Solus Cum Sola
A Piece Without Title
A Fancy
My Lord Willoughby’s Welcome Home
What If A Day
Mrs. Clifton’s Almain
Can She Excuse
Mrs. Winter’s Jump
Round Battle Galliard
The Frog Galliard
A Fancy
Resolution
Come Away
A Fantasia
Aloe
Preludium
An Almand
The Queene’s Galliard
Coranto
Mr. Dowland’s Midnight
La Mia Barbara
Lady Laiton’s Almain
Pavana
Gagliarda
Pavana
Pavana
Jakob Lindberg (lute)
rec. October-December 1994, Djursholms Kapell, Sweden
Ultra Extended Playing Time: more than 4 hours of music on 1 SACD. This single layer stereo SACD can only be played back on an SACD player
BIS-SACD-1724 [4:15:44]

 

Experience Classicsonline


I’ve been dying to get my hands on one of these ‘Ultra Extended Playing Time’ SACD discs from BIS. They’re the equivalent of having one of those big old reel-to-reel tape recorders. Having spent half your life filling a full reel with old favourites at low speed, one could just let the thing roll on quietly all evening while dreaming of enjoying the social life you would have had, had you not spent half your life collecting all your old favourites and taping them onto one of those big reel-to-reel tape recorders. These ultra-long discs only play on SACD reproduction equipment, trading in the extra software digits used in surround-sound channels for extra playing time in conventional stereo. Sound quality is the equal of a conventional CD, the extra convenience being in not having to change discs the whole time, and in more compact storage. It’s doubtful anyone will want to sit and listen to an over four-hour recital of anything, but that’s not the point. You trade the convenience of multi-disc sets against a single disc which will only play on an SACD player, so the choice is fairly straightforward depending on your own set-up.

Jakob Lindberg’s recordings have appeared in more than one guise already from BIS, being still available in their 4 CD box BIS-CD-722/24, and also having been made into a well-filled compilation for those less interested in having absolutely everything from the one composer.

Despite the seemingly endless playing time, there is plenty of variety in the programme on this disc. Dowland’s solo lute music is extraordinarily varied and ranges from light frivolous pieces with titles such as Mrs. Winter’s Jump, Mrs. White’s Thing or even Mrs. White’s Nothing to famously profound works such as the Farewell, or Semper Dowland Semper Dolens which can express the darkest melancholy. Lindberg’s expressive range may not be the most far reaching in the universe, but the contrasts on offer are more than sufficient to make clear to what kind of piece you are listening. The playing order follows the titles given for the books and albums from which the extant editions of the music has been sourced, and reflects something of the expertise which was brought in preparing these recordings. There is of course a certain amount of crossing-over between the purely instrumental works and the often more well-known vocal songs, one example being the famous Pavan Lachrimę which was also published as the song Flow my teares. This also applies to several of the galliards, which range from extrovert dances inspired by 16th-century ‘battle pieces’ but also the more introvert and lyrical works such as the Melancholy Galliard. In order to perform these 92 pieces, Jakob Lindberg uses three different instruments, principally playing an 8-course lute but also employing a 10-course lute and an 8-course orpharion.

Competition for complete recordings of Dowland’s lute music is not huge. Paul O’Dette’s reportedly more extrovert survey on Harmonia Mundi has received merited plaudits but I don’t have these to hand. One of the main challenges in a price-per-note standoff has to be Nigel North’s excellent, and I believe still ongoing set for Naxos. North’s sense of colour and feel for the dynamic projection of sometimes quite complicated counterpoint are comparable with that of Lindberg, and both have a nice lyrical turn of phrase in the more song-like numbers. Jakob Lindberg’s recordings are made in a pleasantly intimate space: not too dry in acoustic, but reflecting the more likely circumstances of a music-room diversion than a church recital.

This is most definitely one place where you can learn to appreciate the subtleties of Dowland’s art, as well as much about those 16th century sensibilities and humours. 13 years on it may no longer be the last word in this repertoire, but does remain highly competitive, and from where I’m sitting it is a joy and feast for the ears.

Dominy Clements


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.