The final volume of Nigel North’s John Dowland lute music cycle offers some of this singular composer’s more familiar works such as Walsingham, Go from my window, and Lord Willoughby’s welcome home. It also includes North’s own editions of Dowland songs arranged for solo lute. In general, North favors slower tempos than Paul O’Dette (Harmonia Mundi) and is not averse to savoring a felicitous cadence or melodic turn of phrase, as you hear in the little Galliard P. 35. While O’Dette’s quicker and suppler readings of the Queen Elizabeth and Sir John Souch Galliards better emphasize the music’s dance origins and rich contrapuntal ideas, North sometimes surpasses O’Dette so far as coloristic resources. A good example of this is Awake, sweet love, where North applies varied vibratos to the melodic line. The warm ambience and detailed presence of Naxos’ engineering makes an immediate and lasting impact. If you already own Volumes 1 through 3, chances are you’ve already bought this release. If not, then why not?
