Customer Reviews

O Sweet Love: Songs by Dowland & Byrd

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are some performers whose recordings are instantly slotted into the "must have" section of a collector's mind. The sweet-as-mead voice and high intelligence of Canadian countertenor Daniel Taylor make him one of these performers.

Daniel Taylor's voice is like a map that is elegantly and sensitively written, expressive and colourful, its lines and lineaments portraying to the highest degree the geography of music itself. This is no accident - it is an achievement which less intellectually gifted singers can rarely attain (and even then, only by following to the nth degree the careful and minute work of someone who DOES have this particular approach to the music). And when it is a unique interpretation, fresh every time and yet containing similar elements every time, the listener can but sigh with pleasure and bliss, thanking God in His kindness that He has given such a singer to grace the earth.

Dowland's and Byrd's songs are among my favourite in the entire oeuvre. I adore performing them; I adore listening to them. I do demand more when I listen than a pretty tone. Pretty tones are easily come by. I want... I want to hear the poetry of the words in the music. I want to hear each word given a pearl-like placing in the phrase. I want to hear the phrases caress like silk the very texture of the air.

This recording performs exactly that. It is deeply satisfying, very beautiful, and demonstrative of Daniel Taylor's most excellent technique. (I cannot fathom the criticism in one of the previous reviews, in which the reviewer complains of Mr Taylor's technique, speaking of flaws which I have not heard. Either I am peculiarly insensitive to these flaws, or - more likely, since I'm a critical (in the best sense of the word!) listener of music as well as being both a performer and teacher of singing - these flaws exist with as little validity as the oft-vaunted single-footed monsters drawn on Renaissance maps. In other words... they do not exist.)

Beautiful, beautiful singing. Very highly recommended indeed.

You have got to...
You need to...
You must...
You will never be the same after you...
FIND THIS DISC.

His performance of "Shall I strive with words to move" sums it
all up. TOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL.

Taylor really understands this music, and his interpretation ravishes the ear and the mind. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I feel that is a beautifully planned disc of stunning performances.

What fortune to find this first-rate disc by a singer I was, until yesterday, unfamiliar with. I adored this program and especially the magical intertwining of Taylor's voice with the gambas. Dowland never sounded more sorrowful and Byrd never more
cared for. Do not walk......run and buy this disc.

Here is a disc that must be included in any serious early-music
collector's library. Young Daniel Taylor's pure, angelic voice is sensitively supported by the gamba duo and Stephen Stubbs. Taylor's perfect intonation and thoughtful word-painting are a gift to us all.

I read another review of this disc which was obviously written
by a frustrated countertenor-wanna-be. These are touching performances - listen how Taylor caresses each word. This, along
with his new disc, Lamento, can be played over and over again...

The artist has a sweet sound to his voice, and the range of a real alto countertenor, however, his weak technique leads to flaws that greatly reduce the expressive ability of his voice. This collection of lute songs is an above average recording in terms of the general body of work by countertenor artists, but doesn't stand against the vast body of recordings available by solid artists with wonderful vocalism and expressive interpretations.

It is worth listening to for the good alto register, and because this artist has great potential, but not as a quality piece that can be enjoyed over and over again.