The first thing to
say is that only Dowland wrote lute
songs, so the title of this CD is somewhat
misleading. Purcell scored his songs
for keyboard with possible continuo
as performed here with archlute and
theorbo or with gamba. This an important
point, as Dowland’s so-called ‘First
book of songs’ can be performed in several
differing ways, as I shall explain;
Purcell’s songs are therefore more conventional
being for solo voice with accompaniment.
Rufus Muller’s recording
dates from 1993 when it appeared on
ASV. It was well reviewed at the time,
deservedly so, but there are some reservations
which need airing.
Dowland’s First Book
consists of twenty-one beautiful and
often well-known songs more than half
of which are slow. If you are looking
for a recording of them, and I think
that a serious collector should have
book 1, then do you want a version performed
by just one singer throughout? If not,
then you would have to turn to the recording
in the complete Dowland series by Anthony
Rooley’s ‘Consort of Musick’. Rooley’s
set was recorded in 1976. There he adopts
a wide and contrasting range of approaches
which give variety if not always consistency.
Have no fear, when I last enquired Rooley’s
Book 1 was available separately on Decca’s
L’Oiseau Lyre (421 653-2).
‘Come Again, sweet
love doth now invite’ is a good example
of Rufus Muller’s approach. He adopts
a brisk tempo and has a beautiful and
ideal voice for this repertoire. He
is generally quite expressive and not
for a moment dull in all six verses
(although he could have made more of
some of the text). Anthony Rooley has
a lute accompanying with the otherwise
weak bass enhanced by a bass viol. Rooley
uses the more melancholic but also more
sensitive Martyn Hill. If the texture
of tenor with lute and gamba palls slightly
then Rooley follows it in ’His golden
locks’ with the unique voice of David
Thomas. Thomas’s performance is surely
too slow. Rooley precedes the song with
‘Would my conceit’ performed in a wonderfully
dark version as a four-part madrigal
with Emma Kirkby on the top line.
Another singer in competition
with Rufus Muller is Paul Agnew on Metronome
(Met CD 1010). Interestingly he is,
like Muller, accompanied by Chris Wilson.
He has a wonderful way with text; really
feeling every word of it. The lute also
is recorded more closely … which I prefer.
This disc also includes some favourite
songs from Book 2 meaning that there
is not enough room for all of Book 1.
This is just wonderful singing and full
of what appears to be spontaneous ornamentation.
Rufus Muller rarely ornaments which
makes some of the songs appear too chaste
and rather Protestant, if I might put
it like that.
Other performers of
interest who recorded some of the Book
1 songs with considerable success are
Emma Kirkby with Anthony Rooley on Virgin
(0777 7595214) a disc called ‘The English
Orpheus’ and the counter-tenor Steven
Rickards with Dorothy Linell on Naxos
( 8.553382). With Muller however you
get Book 1 complete. It is interesting
to hear how one man comes to terms with
the entire collection.
The Purcell songs date
from seventy or eighty years later.
I wonder if he knew of Dowland? It must
be remembered that Purcell rarely wrote
separate songs (‘O Solitude’ is an uncommon
exception). Most of what has survived
was originally used in incidental music
or in masque and opera like ‘The Fairy
Queen’. Although I can’t be one hundred
per cent enthusiastic about the Dowland
disc I am much more positive about the
Purcell. This can be recommended if,
that is, you are happy with a counter-tenor.
Michael Chance is a very fine artist
and has a superb voice capable of flexibility
and colour. A comparable disc by another
counter-tenor would be ‘Music for a
while’ (Hyperion CDA66070), a fine recital
by Paul Esswood recorded in 1981, likewise
using harpsichord and gamba. Esswood
was very highly valued at the time and
was, earlier in his career a member
of David Munrow’s Early Music Consort.
The Esswood disc however, at forty-five
minutes, leaves the listener a little
short-changed. Secondly, to my ears,
the sound made by Esswood seems to have
dated and falls too easily into a vibrato
which is too operatic. A good comparison
is in the famous second setting of ‘If
music be the food of love’. Esswood
is quite steady with some rubato in
the tempo but little dynamic contrast
and little sense of communicating the
words with passion. Michael Chance,
on the other hand, retains the pulse
throughout but adds ornamentation where
appropriate and more clearly expresses
the text. In ‘so fierce so fierce’ he
is aided and abetted by some finely
articulated continuo playing which is
neither dull nor running on autopilot.
Chance is even better in the recitative
items. For example in ‘Tis Nature’s
Voice’ almost every word is miraculously
painted by Purcell; Chance enables every
nuance to be savoured. The same comments
could also apply to the extraordinary
‘In the black dismal dungeon of despair’
with words by the William Fuller, Bishop
of Lincoln. Another setting of Fuller
is the final item ‘An Evening Hymn’
which is one of many fine settings by
Purcell to a ground bass. ‘Music for
a while’ is a particularly famous example
of this type of song.
This double CD comes
with a twenty-page booklet containing
all texts explaining their antecedents
and an essay on each composer by Peter
Holman.
So to sum up: This
budget price set is a very good place
to start a collection of early English
songs. Both composers are connected
by the importance they placed on the
text and on expressing it. Most listeners
would not be disappointed by these two
performers nor by the fine songs selected.
Gary Higginson
Michael Chance (counter-tenor); Nigel North
(archlute/theorbo), Richard Boothby (viola da
gamba); Maggie Cole (harpsichord) 