LF 26 Closing Concert: The Seven Tears
St Mary’s Kirk, Haddington 20/9/26
Ensemble Jupiter, Thomas Dunford lutenist/director
Three years ago, at the Edinburgh Festival, I reviewed a spectacular concert by Ensemble Jupiter in the Queen’s Hall, with countertenor Iestyn Davies, and it was a pleasure to welcome the ensemble back to Scotland for the final concert of this year’s Lammermuir Festival.
Tonight’s programme was an all Dowland affair but any doubts about it being a miserable evening (Dowland’s famous motto was Semper Dowland, Semper Dolens – always Dowland, always doleful), were quickly dispelled by the always amusing director of Jupiter, the French/American lutenist, Thomas Dunford, whose introductions and comments took us through a broad selection of works by the enigmatic Dowland, one of England’s most interesting musical figures.
Born in 1563, in the midst of the religious tumult of the late Tudor era, John Dowland was forced by various circumstances to spend much of his working life in Continental Europe, only returning in 1612 to the post of court lutenist to James VI and I, a position he held until his death in 1626.
His collection of seven Lacrimae (Seven Tears) from 1604 formed the central part of this concert. Based on his song, ‘Flow my Tears’, beautifully sung towards the end of the second half of the recital, and using the falling four note phrase -the tear motif- the seven Lacrimae are slow, graceful pavans for viol consort, played tonight by Myriam Rignol, Clémence Schiltz, Mathilde Vialle, Étienne Floutier and Nick Milne. Interspersed with the Lacrimae were songs for consort or solo voice by Dowland, brilliantly sung by Mélissa Petit (soprano), Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Thomas Hobbes (tenor) and Florian Störtz (baritone).
The standout performer for me was the countertenor, Hugh Cutting, of whom I had heard great things but had not heard live. The actuality was even better than the reputation, as this is a world class voice, capable of great dynamic contrasts and with an expressivity that is very rare. I often sang with the wonderful countertenor, James Bowman, who I admired enormously, and I am absolutely certain that Hugh Cutting is in the same league as James. His rendition of both ‘In Darkness let me dwell’ and ‘I saw my lady weep’ were of the highest class, and one could hear an audible gasp from the audience when he finished both songs.
Very fine also was the French soprano, Mélissa Petit, whose perfect intonation and limpid top notes were delicious, and whose English diction (not a feature of many French singers) was exemplary. Reading her biography, it seems that she must have been refining her sound in an extraordinary way in this concert, as she has sung Sophie in ‘Der Rosenkavalier’, Gilda in ‘Rigoletto’, Micaëla In ‘Carmen’ and Freia in ‘Das Rheingold’, roles which, quite frankly, a baroque soprano should not be able even to approach. So, Brava indeed to Ms Petit!
The two other voices, although not perhaps in the same league as the upper ones, were nonetheless excellent, and the four combined really well in the vocal consort sections.
Thomas Dunford dominated the ensemble from the centre, his lute playing unifying the whole performance, and allowing the songs and dances to flow smoothly into each other. It’s funny, in a way, to say the lute dominated, as it is such a quiet instrument, and perhaps it was less prominent further back from where I was sitting, but the fact that Dowland himself was such a famous lutenist meant that it was apposite that his instrument was at the centre of this concert.
It was quite a long concert, and the fact that this was the first stop on a major world tour by Jupiter, perhaps will lead to a shorter programme in future. We were the lucky ones then, and we got a chance to join in at the end, in an encore, as Mr Dunford turned the audience into four parts of a jolly dance movement, with his professionals improvising over the top!
What a great ending to a great festival! EMR will do a retrospective soon with our thoughts about this year’s Lammermuir Festival. Meanwhile, come back next year, and if you can, help preserve the festival by contributing to it as Friends, by looking at lammermuirfestival.co.uk/friends