Search - Dowland, Agnew, Wilson :: Flow My Teares

The music of an English Orpheus sung by our own English Orph

Ingrid Heyn | Melbourne, Australia | 07/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The lute-songs of John Dowland, one of England's greatest composers specialising in music written for the lute and for the voice, come from that golden period of English history when Queen Elizabeth I, as demanding and yet fascinating a queen as ever sat the throne, ruled over England and its flowering poetry and music. It was an age the like of which has not been seen again - the poetry of this period is utterly splendid, the music is magnificent, and of course... this is the age of Shakespeare, arguably the finest dramatist in any language in the history of the world.



John Dowland himself was called the English Orpheus, in a tribute to his meltingly beautiful and often very melancholy music. Like the Orpheus of Greek legend, he had the ability to soothe and to entice, to seduce, to enchant, to delight with his music. The songs are of very high quality, and early music singers often turn to them for the great pleasure singing them gives.



It is unimaginably delightful to hear Paul Agnew, whose tenor voice is a miracle, perform these Dowland songs. I've always loved his voice, and I find that the more I listen to his recordings, the more that honey-sweet fine-grained sensuous purity of his voice becomes evident in his timbre. It's not only a remarkable voice, but utilised with such expertise, such sense of the fitness of things, such very obvious devotion to the service of music. He is the perfect tenor exponent of these Dowland songs.



He is ably supported by the beautiful lute playing of Christopher Wilson.



Recommended very highly indeed."

Singing taken to perfection

Ingrid Heyn | 01/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Paul Agnew is one of the few people whose voice is so beautiful that it's almost irrelevant what he sings! The most lousy song would sound memorable if Agnew sang it. Luckily, however, Dowland's songs are themselves beautiful, matching in calm expressiveness and clarity the calculated perfection of Agnew's vocal style. Don't overlook also the other volume from the same series - "In darkness let me dwell.""