Programmes

Away Delights

A medley of lute solos & songs from Shakespeare's England

by Robert Johnson and John Dowland

MATTHEW WADSWORTH – lute
CAROLYN SAMPSON – soprano

To celebrate the highly successful release of their recent CD on Avie Records, Carolyn Sampson and Matthew Wadsworth offer lyrical gems from Jacobean England. This programme contrasts the melodic ayres of Dowland with the more declamatory and theatrical songs of Johnson.

“A beautifully crafted programme and restrained, crystalline performances... Here are lost loves, madness and death.”
(William Yeoman, Gramophone, January 2005)

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14 Silver Strings

In this programme , the poetic and intricate solo works of Alessandro Piccinini are performed alongside the more flamboyant, experimental music from Giovanni Kapsberger’s Libro Quarto, in which Matthew is (optionally) joined by two excellent continuo players, Gary Cooper and Mark Levy. Optionally, the concert can also include music by Robert de Visée, Diego Ortiz, Bernardo Storace and a new work for theorbo composed for Wadsworth by Andrew Keeling.

MATTHEW WADSWORTH – theorbo (chitarrone)
GARY COOPER – harpsichord
MARK LEVY – viola da gamba

On "14 Silver Strings":

“A ringing endorsement of the beauty of the theorbo in a distinguished recital… Wadsworth has an imperious command of some impressive solo material”
(Gramophone Editor's choice, May 2003)

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When Laura Smiles

To celebrate the recent (October 2005) release on Avie Records of their exciting CD devoted to the music of the great English lutenist and songwriter Philip Rosseter, Matthew Wadsworth and James Gilchrist present some of the finest Elizabethan and Jacobean music.

MATTHEW WADSWORTH - lute
JAMES GILCHRIST - tenor

'Rosseter's discographic neglect is all the more surprising given the sheer quality of his lute solos and songs, performed here with great subtlety and expressive nuance by Matthew Wadsworth and James Gilchrist. Wadsworth's intensely focused playing flows direct from the heart.'

(Andrew Stewart, Classic FM Magazine, November 2005)

 

“James Gilchrist performs with supreme awareness, beckoning the listener to inhabit his world”
(Gramophone, July 2003)

 

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Late Night Lute

This beautiful solo programme features intimate and virtuosic music by John Dowland, Robert Johnson, Philip Rosseter and Daniel Bacheler - the ideal choice for any late night series and the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern living.

"Wadsworth woke the lute so gently that its voice seemed to emerge almost imperceptibly from the silence..."
(William Yeoman, www.classicalsource.com, January 2005)

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The Path to Lieder

A Journey from 17th Century England to 18th Century Germany

PETER HARVEY – baritone
MATTHEW WADSWORTH – lute, 19th century guitar
GARY COOPER – virginals, fortepiano

This is a rare invitation to compare the passionate worlds of two of the great composers of song: the Elizabethan John Dowland and the early Romantic Franz Schubert, whose work ranges from the bleakest despair to the most carefree joy.  Dowland’s introspective and melancholic works are cunningly contrasted with Schubert’s settings of Goethe's Songs of the Harpist, intense expressions of solitude.

On Peter Harvey:

“We knew him to be Baroque: he is also a Romantic... An intense moment of German Romanticism, sung... by one of the most refined singers of our time.”

(Nouveau Journal de L’Est)

Peter Harvey audio

On Gary Cooper:

“Music-making rarely comes as impressive as this.”

(Sunday Times, July 2004)

Gary Cooper audio

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From London to Venice

Music from the English & Italian Courts of the 17th Century

John Dowland and Robert Johnson produced some of the finest music of the lute repertoire, examples of which are featured in the first half of this stunning programme.

MATTHEW WADSWORTH - lute, theorbo (chitarrone)

By contrast, the second half of the concert presents dynamic and colourful music from two of Claudio Monteverdi's most imaginative, lute-playing contemporaries, Giovanni Kapsberger and Alessandro Piccinini.

"Matthew Wadsworth really is a quite extraordinary musician... He also has an enormous ability to draw an audience into his own world"
(Wigmore Hall concert, Early Music Review, April 2003)

Link to full programme