Swell, Burst and Dye
Gabrielle McLaughlin; Lucas Harris
Independent (www.cdbaby.com/cd/gabriellemclaughlin)
The celebration of melancholy is as prevalent in music for singer and lute in the early 17th Century as the double-entendre. And the well-chosen title of this recording makes ample use of both. This phrase, “Swell, burst and dye” ends each of the three parts of Griefe keep within, composed by John Danyel for a funeral in which he advises the grieving wife “Mrs. M.E.” to shun excessive displays of sorrow. He then presents music as both the vicarious expression and the cure. This central piece is a wonderful find along with many others chosen by soprano Gabrielle McLaughlin and lutenist Lucas Harris to take the listener on a life journey through “pubescent drama toward the resignation of adulthood and the sometime despondency of middle age.” Selections by Danyel and John Dowland start sweetly and progressively lean toward a darker side, turning first to Dowland’s characteristic melancholy in I saw my Ladye Weepe, Semper Dowland Semper Dolens, pavan for lute and culminating in Thomas Campion’s spooky When thou must home to Shades of Underground and The Sypres Curtaine of the Night.
Gabrielle McLaughlin has a wonderful pure, even, declamatory style equally perfect for portraying smitten youth, heartbroken lover or gamine sprite. Her emotive qualities shine forth particularly well in her excellent phrasing. And the interplay between the singer and lutenist meet in perfect synchronicity. Cover design by Martin Chochinov is suitably disturbing and worth mentioning also are the playfully authentic spellings in the liner notes.
