John Danyel (1564-1626)
Can doleful notes?
No, let chromatic tunes
Uncertain certain tunes
Dost thou withdraw thy grace?
Pavane "Rosamund"
Eyes, look no more
Coy Daphne fled
Like as the lute delights
Thou Pretty Bird
Pavane
Grief keep within
Drop not mine eyes
Have all our passions
“Daniells Jigge”
I die whenas I do not see
Time cruel time
Stay cruel stay
If I could shut the gate
Mrs Anne Grene her leaves be green
Let not Cloris thinke
What delight can they enjoy?
He whose desires are still abroad
Why canst thou not?
“Mounsiers Almayne”
Now the earth the skies the air

Michael Chance, contre-ténor
Paul Beier, luth

From the liner notes by Paul Beier: “[...] The exceptional nature of the Danyel song book has, naturally, lead to its being particularly fortunate in modern discographic production, and the tendency has always been to present each work with the maximum forces possible: four voices plus instruments in the two songs where that is possible, and the lute always together with a bass viol (which simply doubles the bass line of the lute accompaniment). For the present recording I have decided to use a different approach. Although it is specified on the title page, I do not employ the bass viol: the sustained sound of the viol can easily eclipse the delicate plucking of the lute, rendering Danyel’s highly sophisticated counterpoint more difficult to appreciate. This makes for an altogether more intimate experience of the songs and shifts the focus to the subtle interplay between the literary text and the supreme artistry of John Danyel’s musical language. The sum total of Danyel’s known solo lute works is five, and two of these are of uncertain attribution. Anne Grene her leaves be green, a set of variations on the Browning ballad tune, was printed as the final work in the 1606 song book. (Apart from the pun on the name of Anne Grene, this title contains the more subtle witticism of Browning being made green.) The two pavans are masterpieces showing the high level of Danyel’s attainment in the art of lute playing. It is not certain if the “Daniell” of Daniells Jigge is our composer; another possibility is the Elizabethan court lutenist, Daniel Bacheler. Of the three similar versions of Monsieurs Almain, named after a famous incident in the war of the Spanish Armada, two are attributed to Bacheler, but the earliest version, presented on this disc, is unambiguously ascribed to John Danyel".