Hyperion Records

I must complain in Christ Church MS439—a ‘Dowland’ text set to music by someone else—is heavily ornamented. We have recorded the first verse of this manuscript version followed by Dowland’s complete setting (from the Third and Last Booke, 1603), to give an idea of the kinds of vocal technique cultivated by at least some of the performers who bought Dowland’s books. Sometimes this freedom collides with his music, at other times perhaps it enhances it.

from notes by Elizabeth Kenny © 2008