TRACKLISTING
1 My heavy sprite (Antony Holborne d. 1602) lute
2 Lady, if you so spite me (John Dowland 1563–1626) lute
3 In darkness let me dwell (John Dowland) lute
4 O dear life, when shall it be? (Anon) lute, bass viol
5 Ce penser qui sans fin tirannise ma vie (Pierre Guédron c.1570–1620) harpsichord
6 Si le parler et le silence (Pierre Guédron) lute
7 Change thy mind since she doth change (Richard Martin) bass viol (lyra viol)
8 Go, my flock, go get you hence (Anon) orpharion
9 Se di farmi morire? (Domenico Maria Megli) harpsichord
10 Amarilli mia bella (Giulio Caccini c.1548–1618) archlute
11 Passava Amor su arco desarmado (Anon) harpsichord, guitar
12 Far from triumphing court (John Dowland) lute, bass viol
13 Sir Robert Sydney His Galliard (John Dowland) lute solo
14 In a grove most rich of shade (Guillaume Tessier) lute
15 Vous que le Bonheur rappelle (Pierre Guédron) lute
16 Vuestros ojos tienen d'Amor (Anon) guitar, bass viol
17 Sta notte mi sognava (Anon) harpsichord
18 To plead my faith (Daniel Batchelar b. c.1574) lute
19 O Eyes, leave off your weeping (Robert Hales d. ?1615) lute
20 Dovrò dunque morire??(Giulio Caccini) harpsichord
21 O bella più (Anon) archlute

RECORDING INFORMATION

Musicall Banquet follows star countertenor Andreas Scholl's three extremely successful Decca recordings to date: Heroes (466 196); Pergolesi: Stabat Mater (466 134) and his most recent Nisi Dominus (466 964).

The repertoire
Robert Dowland, son of the famous sixteenth-century composer John Dowland, gave the title A Musicall Banquet to this collection of 20 songs described on the title page of the original edition as "furnished with variete of delicious Ayres, collected out of the best Authors in English, French, Spanish and Italian". In other words, a 1610 Top 20.

The mood and themes vary from song to song, in order to satisfy every single taste. Today's listener can appreciate the great quality of the tunes selected, including Caccini's "Amarilli mia bella", three of John Dowland's finest songs, among them the superb "In darkness let me dwell".