TRACKLISTING
John Dowland
Come again
If my complaints
Away with these self-loving lads
Flow my tears

Thomas Campion
Never weather-beaten Saile
The Sypres Curten of the Night

Thomas Morley
It was a lover and his lasse

William Byrd (ed. McCoy/Hunt)
O Lord, how vain are all our frail delights

John Jenkins (ed. Ashbee)
Fantasy No.9

William Byrd (ed. Gammie)
Through Amaryllis dance in green

Henry Purcell
If music be the food of love
[1st setting, 1692]
Two airs from Abdelazer
The Plaint: O, let me weep
Fairest Isle
She loves and she confesses too
Thy hand, Belinda … When I am laid in earth

RECORDING INFORMATION
Barbara Bonney follows her award-winning Nordic recital Diamonds in the Snow (466 762) with this ravishing collection of English vocal music from the Renaissance and Baroque.

The music ranges from stunningly beautiful devotional pieces by William Byrd, through favourite songs by the great English madrigalists Dowland, Campion and Morley, to Dido's melancholic lament "When I am laid in earth" (Purcell). The title is taken from Purcell's exquisite song "Fairest Isle", from his opera King Arthur .

Barbara Bonney says:

"Purcell is at the top of the list of my favourite composers, and it was not at all difficult to pull together a list of works that I have always wanted to record. This recording has been on my wish-list for a long time and I am thrilled to have had the chance to reconnect with the music that I adore."

It is hard to imagine any period of vocal writing which so reveals the sheer beauty of Barbara Bonney's art. She is joined for this recording by lutenist Jacob Heringman, viol quartet Phantasm and The Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood.