Dowland in Copenhagen

At the Danish court, the most melancholic of all lute masters found recognition, freedom and a monarch who paid generously. Four hundred years after Dowland’s birth, Scherzi Musicali follows him to Scandinavia, where his songs resonate between northern light and courtly sophistication. Although the songs are usually performed by one singer with a lute, Nicolas Achten has opted for four voices and four lutes: a consort that allows the music to breathe beyond the intimacy of the royal chambers. The sound is broader, richer, but still poetic and on a human scale. Works by Danish contemporaries such as Nielsen, Aagesen and Pederson, who coloured Dowland’s stay in the North, sketch out an eminent musical culture in which English refinement, continental taste and Scandinavian clarity combine.

Nicolas Achten, baritone, bass lute, virginal & musical director | Hanna Al-Bender, soprano | Leandro Marziotte, countertenor | Rodrigo Carreto, tenor | Lynda Sayce, alto lute & recorder | Eric Meier, tenor lute | François Dambois, bass lute |

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Program