24 FLAC Discount
Robert Dowland: A Musicall Banquet is the second CD of the »John Dowland pilgrimage« by the ensemble The Schoole of Night. After its conclusion all of Dowland’s songs will be available on CD in 2026, the 400th year of his death.
Frank Pschichholz, the band's musical director, presumes that Dowland's songbooks were designed as connected song cycles. Thus, »A Musicall Banquet« was performed completely and in the order that
John Dowland’s son, Robert Dowland, specified.
The Schoole of Night is an ensemble which has been dealing with the »English Melancholy« for years. In Dowland’s days, melancholy had a large presence and, according to the Schoole of Night, was not just a passing fad but also a form of political expression of followers of the Earl of Essex. Sir Robert Sidney, Robert Dowland's godfather and patron of »A Musicall Banquet«, presents their melancholy pose as a retrospect, for the Earl of Essex died on the scaffold in 1601.
The recording was produced at the Sendesaal Bremen in October 2018. The singer is Maria Skiba. Frank
Pschichholz plays the lute.
Extra material for download
