Customer Reviews

Dowland - The Collected Works / The Consort of Musicke, Rooley

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4 star:		(1)
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Both the music and this actual product are masterpieces. John Dowland's collected works here - covering 12 compact discs - exhibit the depth and power of this composer, a composer who many now regard as suffering from clinical depression. I doubt that the issue of the diagnosis of Dowland's depression can ever be settled, however, it is certainly obvious from his music, so completely on display here, that he was a man with very dark depths and corners in his mind. Dowland's various manifestations and "takes" on his own tune, "Flow my tears"/"Lachrimae" are here. This tune has haunted me ever since I first heard it when I was a child. It seems to sum up Dowland's feelings - at least Dowland seems to have thought so.

The First, Second, Third and Fourth Bookes of Songes, A Musicall Banquet, the keyboard transcriptions, all the lute music, consort music are here and virtually everything else written or supposedly written by John Dowland. Anthony Rooley and The Consort of Musicke perform this music with style and feeling throughout. This 12 CD set is something of a monument to the ensemble - I only wish they'd finished their collection of Monteverdi madrigals, which was equally good (La Venexiana are currently doing a magnificent job of recording all Monteverdi's books of madrigals for the GLOSSA label).

This is an expensive set, however, you will probably never need to buy another John Dowland CD again after buying and listening to this collection.

I bought this CD set on a mild Summer evening of 1998 and listened to it while sitting in my sun room - which a glorious orange sunset in progress, and a glass of wine. It brought back so many memories.

I heard 'clear or cloudy', from this recording, on the radio recently and had to purchase it. It is strange but it is the sort of song that makes life prior to listening to it different from life after. I find it sad that so many people haven't heard it. There are also many other wonderful works in this collection. Given you get twelve well recorded CDs with top quality performances, this has to be one of the bargains of the age.

Please buy it.

I'm amazed at how many people tend to associate John Dowland's music with a tragic sense of drama. While no doubt this is art highly based on sadness, the "tragic" sense of it is more a legacy from the Romantic period. During the Renaissance, however, sadness was undestood as a very aesthetic way of approaching life. That is also the reason why Shakespeare's tragedies appear more sophisticated than his comedies.

Dowland, a contemporary of Shakespeare, discovered that meditating on a sad theme is, at the same time, a way of discovering a special beauty that we tend to avoid (maybe because of the "tragic" heritage of the Romantics). So, in the end, meditating on sadness is an uplifting experience! This box set is a journey into melancholy that includes songs, chamber music, pieces for lute, some rare sacred music and -as a highlight- Dowland's beautiful collection of seven pieces for viola which he called "Lachrimae" (Tears).

This is a fine recording of John Dowland's music, and worth your time if you are an early music enthusiast. The biggest highlights are the vocal recordings done by Emma Kirkby, who has a wonderful soprano voice that is perfect for the style of music. The solo lute recordings are also very nicely done, and highlight the lute's unique texture - these recordings do not sound like a guitar. I highly recommend this collection.

I love these CDs. This music is absolutely gorgeous. I can't stop listening to it.

I love Emma Kirkby. She's beautiful and talented. The other people on this set are also very good. Yeah, this is just gorgeous music, from a very different time in the world, if you know what I mean. Listening to this music, it's hard to believe what England has become. I think the solution to their problems might be to get back to their roots, which is this music. Absolutely gorgeous music, sung in the archaic Elizabethan English of Shakespeare, and the King James Bible.

The quality of the performances varies, but it's wonderful to have a collection of all of Dowland's music, and the MP3 version is very reasonably priced.