Last week I was in Piteå in Northern Sweden recording David Gorton’s A Treatise of Melancholy, an extrapolation on Dowland’s songs and Elizabethan madrigals inspired by Timothie Bright’s treatise of 1586. It’s the latest of many collaborations between David Gorton and guitar-playing polymath Stefan Östersjö, a project that’s been in development since before Lockdown. I sang the Dowland (more or less straight), Erik Westberg’s choir sang the madrigals, with interjections and deconstructions by Stefan on 11 string alto guitar (a sort of 1970s attempt to reinvent the lute), Peter Spissky on baroque violin, and Mime Brinkmann on gamba.  I’ve always loved composers engaging with the music of their predecessors, and in this case there was an extraordinary empathy between composers (one living, one dead) and performers: the unique trio was a joy to listen to, and Erik Westberg painted the most exquisite colours with his singers. 

We recorded in the ancient church of Öjeby just outside Piteå. It’s a beautiful 15th century building rebuilt in the 18th century. Öjeby is a unique community, consisting of a number of simple wooden houses that parishioners would stay in overnight if they lived too far away to ride to church on Sunday.  

We were in the capable hands of producer Gunnar Andersson, who sang with the Swedish ensemble Lamentabile (and with whom the Hilliards played volleyball in…1994). It was also great to catch up with Peter Spissky, who was among that great bunch of players (including Slovakia’s other great fiddle player Milos Valent) that coalesced around Stephen Stubbs in Bremen and Malmö.

I suspect that’s the last time I’ll record Dowland. He's been my companion for many decades. David Gorton's realisations reveal yet more insights into one of the most mysterious 16/17th century musical geniuses. His reinterpretations include 'Were every thought an eye', one of my favourite Dowland songs (and one of a handful that are relatively fast and cheerful). We don't know who wrote his texts, but many of them stand comparison with the great poets of the age. My two earlier and now ancient albums were the Hilliard Ensemble’s  Dowland Ayres of 1989 for EMI (the first time I worked with Stephen Stubbs) and the ECM album with Steve, John Surman, Barry Guy and Maya Homburger that launched The Dowland Project ten years later. In between I’ve performed the great man in Europe and South America with Ariel Abramovich and in the UK with Jacob Heringman (including our video version of In Darkness Let me Dwell). There is also an unreleased recording of Book Two that Steve Stubbs and I did ages ago for a project that never materialised. Time stands still…