When John Dowland composed the pieces that form the famous Lachrimae, or Seven Teares, he gave the instrumental repertoire one of its first masterpieces. The Sit Fast consort, lead by Atsushi Sakaï, presents a new reading of those timeless pages. Who says the viol should be earmarked for early music? The pure sonority of this instrument also inspired the English composer George Benjamin. Upon Silence, written in 1990 for five viols and mezzo-soprano on a poem by Yeats, extends and updates the poetic “tears” of Dowland.
Sit Fast: Seven Tears Upon Silence
