Renaissance Favorites for Guitar (2006)

performed by David Russell (guitar)
composed by Alonso de Mudarra, Anonymous, English, Francesco Canova da Milano, Joan Ambrosio Dalza, John Dowland, Luys de Narváez, Pietro Paulo Borrono, William Byrd

David Russell is a Scottish guitarist, veteran of more than 20 album releases, a master technician, and a performer with an instinctive hold on an audience's attention. Though not known as a Renaissance specialist, he delivers an effective Renaissance program here -- not entirely one of the "favorites" advertised on the cover, and that's what makes the program work. He plays them all on the guitar, somehow (probably with a capo and tuning adjustments of some kind) making it sound rather like a lute. There are indeed some ... Read More

David Russell is a Scottish guitarist, veteran of more than 20 album releases, a master technician, and a performer with an instinctive hold on an audience's attention. Though not known as a Renaissance specialist, he delivers an effective Renaissance program here -- not entirely one of the "favorites" advertised on the cover, and that's what makes the program work. He plays them all on the guitar, somehow (probably with a capo and tuning adjustments of some kind) making it sound rather like a lute. There are indeed some favorites here, by John Dowland, including the lugubrious Semper Dowland Semper Dolens and Lachrimae pavan. One English rock star said that the beauty of England is that there you can be gloomy if you feel like it, an attitude that goes all the way back to Dowland. That composer's works are surrounded, however, by Spanish and Italian works of a different tenor, resulting in a three-act structure that moves through dark-colored, quasi-improvisatory pieces, variations, contrapuntal works... Read Less