Artist: Nigel North

Title: Robert Johnson: The Prince's Almain And other Dances For Lute

Year Of Release: 2010

Label: Naxos

Genre: Classical

Quality: FLAC track + booklet

Total Time: 60:14 min

Total Size: 248 MB



Tracklist:



01. The Prince's Almain, Masque and Coranto

02. Pavan No. 1

03. Galliard: My Lady Mildmay's Delight

04. Pavan No. 2

05. 2 Almains

06. The Noble Man

07. The Witches' Dance

08. Pavan No. 3

09. 3 Almains

10. The Fairies' Dance

11. Fantasie

12. Galliard

13. Lady Strange's Almain

14. Pavan No. 4 (set by Nigel North)

15. The First, Second and Third Dances in the Prince's Masque

16. 3 Almains

17. The Satyre's Dance (set by Nigel North)



Composer Robert Johnson was part of the circle of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson at the beginning of the 17th century. Little of his music has survived; this release by British-American lutenist Nigel North includes most of what he did. Johnson's music was probably used in Shakespeare's plays, and this album may be of interest to theatrical producers for that reason. It consists of dances: pavanes, galliards, almains (allemands), and titled pieces like The Witches' Dance (track 7), mostly of the sort that Dowland, another contemporary, also composed. But the effect of Johnson's music is different; it's simpler, more transparent, and much less given to melancholy than Dowland's. Sample the economical elegance of The Fairies' Dance (track 10) for a taste. The virtuosity lies mostly in the ornaments applied rather than in the notated music, but the four numbered pavanes and a few other pieces have "divisions" or variations attached. North informs the buyer in his notes (in English only) that Pavan No. 2 "has divisions which I felt were not good enough to be Johnson's, so I preferred to add my own." This is questionable policy with little-known music, but in general North's performances are graceful, confident, lyrical, and clean. The same can't be said for the sound, which places the lute in an Ontario church (is that a place a lute feels at home?) where the sound is too live and picks up extraneous instrument noise a 17th century audience would never have heard. Still, this release will find an audience among Renaissance lute fans and those interested in Shakespeare and his era. -- James Manheim



Previously uploaded at Demonoid