john dowland, sorrow and the timelessness of music

i've been working with the artist jude cowen montague on a second ep of works based upon prepared texts derived from well known songs, in this instance songs by john dowland (the first was on folk songs)

immersing myself in the work of such a central figure in english language song has left me even more impressed by his achievements, even more in awe of the beauty contained within his arrangements. few works achieve such an elevated level, a point at which they produce a rush of joy and spiritual and emotional release. bach's setting of john's passion achieves this, cage's silence, byrd's consort songs also have moments which lift the listener out of their own body. all these works (and others) have a timelessness which i have tried to capture in my settings for jude cowen montague's voice.

while working on this ep (hopefully it will be completed soon) i worked on four one hour long organ pieces (all split into two thirty minute sections) for each of the songs we are working with.

i hope these hint towards the timelessness of dowland's work.