You would hardly know that this year is the 400th anniversary of John Dowland’s death in 1626. The commemorative album releases and performances you might have been watching for during such a significant anniversary just don’t seem to have materialized, at least not in abundance or with the expected fanfare.
Today, the BBC Proms festival is doing its bit, with its Late Night Baroque program at Royal Albert Hall bringing the Proms debut of early music specialists the Jupiter Ensemble, led by Thomas Dunford, with tenor Laurence Kilsby. The first half of their concert is a brief Dowland “greatest hits” playlist (the rest of the show features music by Purcell).
That’s not a lot of fuss for sad Mr. Dowland is it? Let’s try to help out. Today’s playlist is a sampling of the albums that have shown up in the first half of this anniversary year. Enjoy… through the tears.
John Dowland: "Go Nightly Cares" from Mr Dowland's Dream ℗ 2026 Ricercar
This album came out in February, and it’s quite an unusual take on Dowland. To be sure we have some of the expected lute songs: Come, Ye Heavy States of Night, Mr Dowland’s Midnight, In Darkness Let Me Dwell and so on. But it mutates into a dream sequence in which the sound world of 1600 shifts into something modern, electronic and increasingly strange. Lutenist Bor Zuljan plays both a nine-course replica of a 1617 orpharion, and a specially-built ten-course electric version, while soprano Clare Brunet evokes a dark, smoky, almost androgynous timbre that sounds more like a deep mezzo… in keeping with the hallucinatory atmosphere they conjure as they move on to songs by Robert Johnson, Thelonious Monk, and even Pink Floyd!
John Dowland: "Can she excuse my wrongs?" from Amidst the Shades ℗ 2026 BIS
Amidst the Shades was also released in February, and here we find another dark-hued soprano. Once more, the selection of songs begins with Dowland, but then traverses the centuries to follow the development of English song as it reflects Dowland’s expressive directness: Dowland’s contemporaries, on to Benjamin Britten, and even Shakespeare settings by some of today’s active composers.
Dowland: "Time stands still" from John Dowland – Songs, Ayres & Dances
I think we really need a straight-forward “all eyes and ears on Dowland” selection to commemorate the great songwriter properly. French label Erato to the rescue: they have produced a big 10-CD box to do him right. John Dowland: Songs, Ayres & Dances (the John Dowland Edition) bundles up ten of the finest classic Dowland albums, originally released between 1976 – 2008 on Warner-associated labels. Artists famously associated with Dowland, including the Hilliard Ensemble, The King’s Singers, Emma Kirkby, Nigel Rogers, Paul O’Dette, Anthony Rooley, and Fretwork. This track features The Consort of Musicke and Anthony Rooley, recorded in 1977.
