Dowland

The Renaissance English composer John Dowland was a prolific writer of songs accompanied by the lute, and the performance of those songs has sustained and informed the careers of many great singers and lute players over the decades. Lucie Skeaping takes a look back at how the interpretation and performance style of Dowland songs has evolved over the last century and plays a selection of recordings from singers and lute players past and present. To help her are studio guests Jacob Heringman, currently one of Britain's foremost lutenists, and the singer Emma Kirkby, whose seminal recordings and performances of Dowland songs have enchanted audiences for many years.