Mark Padmore, Elizabeth Kenny, Craig Ogden - Dowland: Lute Songs; Britten: Nocturnal

Mark Padmore is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest tenors working today, celebrated in the opera house, the concert hall and as a peerless recording artist. He is admired�among other things�for his �extraordinary diction and whispering chamber-like intimacy � [his] joy in conveying the emotional core of each situation� (Gramophone) and it is these facets of his performance�together with the exquisite musicianship of Elizabeth Kenny�which make this disc of Dowland songs such a delight. The little world of each song is sensitively explored and beautifully expressed.Elizabeth Kenny writes in her scholarly booklet notes that �over the years many great singers have made Dowland�s voice their own, and this is one of our starting points for this disc�. Padmore and Kenny have used some perhaps less familiar manuscripts to perform a number of these songs and the result is fascinating.Britten�s Nocturnal after John Dowland, written for Julian Bream in 1963, is an extended exploration of the tensions and nightmares behind the song Come, heavy Sleep, and receives a darkly brilliant performance here by Craig Ogdon.