Customer Reviews

Tears of the Muse

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

 

 

This outstanding production has just won the "Best Classical Album Of The Year" Award (Félix) at the Gala de l'ADISQ 1998 - the equivalent of a Grammy in the USA. Counter tenor Daniel Taylor, Les Voix Humaines (viola da gamba duo) and Andreas Martin on lute give a unique rendition of Dowland's songs. You can't go wrong and even more, you'll want to get Daniel Taylor's first recording on the ATMA label, Purcell's "On The Muse's Isle" unanimously praised by critics in Canada, the USA and in the UK, as well as every other recordings he will make...

I got this CD as a gift from Dan Taylor himself and he would be happy to know that it has become one of the most cherished CD's in my vast collection. As much as I enjoyed Paul Agnew's wonderful recordings of English lute songs, Taylor's raw sincerity and subdued eloquence in the rendition of these songs probably surpass even Agnew's silken polish. The title line for my review comes from Gramophone, I just couldn't resist borrowing it because it is so apt! Most of the songs on this disc (in fact, all but one) are plaintive and sentimental. The choice is fitting because the pure fluid tone of Taylor's voice seems ideally suited to slow melodic lines such as these. I find Taylor's voice to be absolutely remarkable. To my ears, it combines the platinum radiance of David Cordier with the velvety opulence of Michael Chance - a rare combination indeed. As if the beautiful voice was not enough to spark interest, Taylor's singing here is also technically secure and lyrically expressive, ever so lightly adorned with tasteful ornaments. The emphases are all the more potent because they are sparsely used. For example, the second repetition of "Learn to condemn light" in Flow my tears is startling in its sudden roughness... I will never be able to listen to this song again in anybody's performance without expecting them to repeat that same modulation. To me at least, this is how these songs should be sung. gkolomietz@yahoo.com

This recording dates from 1998, and the question I ask myself is... why did it appear in my favourite record shop only recently? And why was I not previously aware of this recording?

I'd heard Daniel Taylor first (or at least consciously noted his name) in the recording of Handel's Rinaldo, and thought at the time what an astonishing beautiful and sensitive sound he produced. I began a hunt for any recordings of his, and was unutterably delighted when, because I pestered the aforesaid music shop, a lot of ATMA Classique recordings appeared. (I seem to have answered my own question - the CDs appeared because I confessed to an absolute longing for anything sung by this counter-tenor!)

The recordings on the ATMA label include several with Suzie Le Blanc, another favourite of mine - and I was prompt to grab as many of the recordings as I could see.

This CD, "Tears of the Muse" consists of some of the most ravishingly exquisite songs by Dowland ever composed - and certainly Daniel Taylor's performance of them is the perfect blend of the intellectual and the emotional. Singing Elizabethan music is a little tricky for some in that a) yes, it must be sung in the appropriate style - a voice approaching Dowland in the same manner as Verdi is going to miss the mark by a mile; b) no, a straight and entirely vibrato-less sound which has as its only objective a dead-set on "Target Choir-Boy Timbre" is NOT the ideal here; c) yes, the songs need to be ornamented (ornamentation in music of this period includes sighs, breaths in the voice, the sound of tears, not just gruppi or other such ornamentations); d) no, swooping around like Renee Fleming is not good ornamentation or even good expressiveness.

Daniel Taylor not only knows this - he is an expert exponent. He sings with his heart and soul, not just his vocal folds. His vocal instrument is very beautiful, but without the intelligence he clearly possesses to control that voice, he would not be the singer he is. And beyond mere intelligence lies the ability to capture the listener/audience - many an intelligent singer with a perfectly nice-sounding voice will simply never enravish his/her audience because to do so is a gift that is both the product of hard work and a God-given talent.

Daniel Taylor has that gift.

I have listened to this CD and to other of his recordings several times, and I shall continue to enjoy them with deep pleasure. The detail, the overall delicacy combined with heart-melting beauty, the whole and sublime work evident in this... I am simply unable to listen to this recording without weeping with that happiness that is so close to sorrow that it almost cuts into one with pleasure.

This is a recording for everyone who loves early music, and if you've never heard early music, this is a perfect CD as your introduction to how it's done.

This is a lovely CD, the finest of Mr. Taylor's several CD's featuring lute or consort songs. Actually, it's the only one I would recommend -- the others are, in my opinion, too uneven. For the music I give this five stars (despite being a bit short, coming in at just over 51 minutes). Taylor sings beautifully throughout; and the songs chosen, though too few, are superb. There's a very nice mix of vocal and instrumental pieces, and it features interesting arrangements by Susie Napper (one of the two viola da gambists), in one case combining "Flow my tears" and its instrumental counterpart, "Lachrimae Antiquae," into a VERY effective extended piece over 13 minutes long! Also extended is "Sorrow, come" (more commonly known as "Sorrow, stay" -- the title is different in the consort version) into a piece over 7 minutes. "Can she excuse" is stirringly extended to over 4-1/2 minutes by combining the lute song with its instrumental counterpart ("The Earl of Essex Galliard"). Throughout, the viola da gamba parts have been effectively rearranged for just two gambas, instead of the usual four or five.

So why only four stars? I was startled to read in the liner notes (penned by Taylor himself) that Dowland's songs are "BASED ALMOST ENTIRELY ON HIS OWN POETRY." But this is sheer nonsense!! Very few of Dowland's songs indicate who wrote the words, and those that do NEVER credit Dowland as the poet. This is not unusual, as many lute and consort songs had anonymous lyricists. And the words were typically not written by the composer -- the most notable exception being Thomas Campion, an excellent poet/lyricist (who always wrote his own words to his songs), and who as a lute song composer was second only to Dowland.

Diana Poulton, as expert an authority on Dowland as ever there was, wrote in her biography of him:
"In recent years the authorship of a number of the poems used by Dowland has been traced, but many remain where, so far, no identification has been made. Some of these may possibly have been provided by his distinguished patrons. In addition to the few very fine poets in the Queen's immediate circle, many of the courtiers were capable of writing respectable verse, although convention demanded anonymity except among the author's closest friends. This dislike of publicity among the nobility and gentry concerning their poetic works is responsible for much of the unclaimed verse of the period not only in the lutenist song-books, but in the madrigal collections as well. The same type of author may also have produced the translations from Italian lyrics occasionally used by composers of the time... The suggestion has sometimes been put forward that Dowland himself wrote some of the poems he set to music. Although there is no definite evidence to prove his authorship of any stanzas in the song-books he certainly showed he could write verse by the commendatory poems he contributed to his friends' publications. These, however, mostly fall far below the level attained by many of the lyrics he made use of. What is certain is that he had a keen and sensitive ear for poetry and a quick appreciation of such verses as were suitable for his purpose."

Walter R. Davis, an Elizabethan literary authority, who edited "The Works of Thomas Campion," wrote in 1987 that "it is almost certain that Dowland did not write his own texts."

This evening I perused the liner notes to all the lute/consort song CDs I own, to see if any others make such an outlandish claim as Mr. Taylor did. Here's an overview: Some say it's tempting to ASSUME Dowland wrote at least some of them himself; or that it's POSSIBLE he wrote some himself. Some point out that while it had been widely ASSUMED he wrote many of the texts himself, THIS WAS NOW MUCH IN DOUBT. Some compare Dowland with Campion and point out that Campion, UNLIKE Dowland, was the author of both the music and the texts.

While it's clear there's some variance of opinion on the subject, it's inexcusable to make a statement such as that made by Mr. Taylor. I believe it results from an overly romantiziced view of Dowland.

I did this evening discover, to my dismay, that the liner notes to Taylor's release "O Sweet Love" (also on the Canadian ATMA Classique label), includes the very same misinformation, stating that Dowland "was also a very talented poet, who wrote the words to his own songs." Not so! What are they smoking up there in Canada?