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Hopkinson Smith has been praised as
one of the masters of repertoires for early
plucked instruments and produced over
25 prizewinning recordings for naïve -
for instance, the recording of his lute arrangements
of the Bach solo violin Sonatas
and Partitas, released in the year
2000, has been called by Gramophone
‘the best recording of these works on any
instrument’.
This is a new fascinating journey that is
now offered to us, in the heart of the Elizabethan
Age. This anthology contains
four pieces connected with John Dowland
and others by contemporaries from
the generation of lute composers that
preceded him.
This is Hopkinson Smith who named the
piece called “Mad Dog”, as a symbol of
his creative process: “There are many
orphaned lute pieces in English sources
that have come down to us with no name
at all. I have taken the liberty of christening
four such pieces in this program withnames
that seem to suit their musical
spirits. As we grow into a repertoire and
ingest its language and freedoms, a process
of entering the creativity of an age
gradually takes place. A fluency develops
that leads to many types of extemporization.
The naming of unnamed pieces can
be seen as a natural extension of this.”
mad dog
1 johnson’s jewell | JOHN JOHNSON c.1540-1594 1’54
2 a pavan to delight | JOHN JOHNSON 4’28
3 galliard to delight | JOHN JOHNSON 1’32
4 ward’s repose | JOHN JOHNSON 3’59
5 as it fell on a holly eve | ANTHONY HOLBORNE ?-1602 2’02
6 heigh ho holiday | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 1’10
7 fantasy | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 1’49
8 pavan bray | WILLIAM BYRD 1540-1623 4’26
9 the shoemaker’s wife | JOHN DOWLAND 1563-1626 2’30
10 pavan | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 3’41
11 galliard to the pavan before | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 1’32
12 fantasy | GREGORIO HUWET 1550?-1616-JOHN DOWLAND 4’42
13 mr dowland’s midnight | JOHN DOWLAND 3’13
14 mad dog | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 1’56
15 my selfe | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 3’06
16 day’s end pavan | JOHN JOHNSON 3’58
17 passion | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 2’13
18 carman’s whistle | JOHN JOHNSON 3’00
19 mr holborns last will and testament | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 5’00
20 muy linda | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 1’31
21 prelude | JOHN DOWLAND 1’21
22 the fairy round | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 2’27
23 fare thee well | ANTHONY HOLBORNE 2’22 |
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