The Dowland Project & John Potter - Night Sessions (2013/2018) [Official Digital Download]

From its inception, John Potter’s Dowland Project has drawn upon different musical traditions including those of ‘early music’ and improvisation. These “Night Sessions” emphasize the Project’s improvisational flexibility and resourcefulness, as the musicians create new music in the moment, sometimes with medieval poetry as inspirational reference and guide. There are also a number of ‘daytime’ pieces worked up, Potter notes, from small amounts of notation: 'Menino Jesus à Lapa' is based on Portuguese pilgrim song fragments and ‘Theoleptus 22’ built around a Byzantine chant. Lute fantasias are taken from Dalza’s Intabolatura de Lauto (Venice, 1508) and Attaignant’s Tres breve et familiere introduction…a jouer toutes chansons (Paris, 1529). The oldest compositions are 'Can vei la lauzeta mover' – a love song by the 12th century troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn, and 'Fumeux fume' by the 14thcentury avant-gardist Solage. Two incarnations of the Dowland Project are heard here, the original band with Potter, Stephen Stubbs and John Surman joined by Barry Guy and Maya Homburger, and the revised line-up with Milos Valent on violin and viola.

Tracklist:
01. First descent
02. Menino Jesus à Lappa
03. Recercar (Joan Ambrosio Dalza)
04. Can vei la lauzeta mover
05. First triage (Bernart de Ventadorn)
06. Man in the moon
07. Corpus Christi
08. Whistling in the dark
09. Swart mekerd smethes
10. Fumeux fume (Solage)
11. Hortus ignotus
12. Mystery play
13. I sing of a maiden
14. Theoleptus 22
15. Second descent
16. Second triage
17. Prelude

Personnel:
John Potter, tenor
The Dowland Project:
Stephen Stubbs, lute, chitarrone, baroque guitar, vihuela
John Surman, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, percussion
Maya Homburger, baroque violin
Miloš Valent, violin, viola
Barry Guy, double bass