John Dowland's Lachrimæ are probably the most famous pieces in the Elizabethan viola da gamba consort repertoire, each of which evokes tears belonging to despair in love, contrition or mystical enlightenment. This cycle was conceived as a cathartic movement, a liberation from the tears of original sins (Lachrimæ Antiquæ), from those persisting today (Lachrimæ Antiquæ Novæ), from the moaning and sad tears of melancholy (Lachrimæ Gementes et Tristes), and then a change of direction, an opening towards the absolute with the Lachrimæ Coactæ and tears for a true, spiritual and divine love (Lachrimæ Amantis et Veræ).
Anthony Holborne, also a lutenist, played very regularly for Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, and frequented many poets, thinkers and musicians. This explains why the dances in his collection for several instruments consist of so many pieces with titles as enigmatic as they are poetic: Paradizo, The Funeralls, The Night's Watch, The Cradle, etc. We have selected here some of Holborne's pavanes which quote the famous theme of the Lachrimæ Antiquæ (or Flow my Tears), such as Pavana Ploravit, or The Image of Melancholly, adding some formidably dynamic and evocative gaillardes.
These two lute players with such strong characters have much in common, both in their lifestyles and in their writing, where melody takes precedence and the inner parts of the polyphony form a rich counterpoint. The lute, accompanied by five viols, is the soloist here, but beware, as the future will show, the viola da gamba will gradually take off in the early 17th century and drown the lute in its repertoire of Jacobean Fantasias, until it is forgotten!
Cast
François Joubert-Caillet, viola da gamba
Marie-Suzanne de Loye, tenor viol
Andreas Linos, tenor viol
Aude-Marie Piloz, bass viol
Sarah van Oudenhove, bass viol
Bor Zuljan, lute
Hervé Mestron, ResMusica, Juillet 2019
François Joubert-Caillet et son ensemble L’Achéron nous donnent à entendre l’immensité du monde, cette faculté de la musique à traduire l’intemporel et ce qui touche au plus profond de l’âme humaine. Au-delà des mondes, des formes et des croyances, l’essence de la vie se retrouve dans l’architecture des sons que rien ni personne ne pourra jamais effacer. La lyra grecque et la viole de gambe se rencontrent aujourd’hui comme si elles n’étaient qu’un seul et même instrument, l’outil du sacré.
L’austérité élisabéthaine et la nostalgie byzantine ottomane se retrouvent sur l’autel d’une partition écrite où le dialogue permet d’accueillir la voix de l’improvisation comme celle de la transmission. La lyra grecque, sorte de pardessus de viole à l’accent mauresque, a traversé montagnes et mers pour se fondre dans le consort de violes.
L’histoire se raconte sur et à travers la musique de Dowland. La lyra grecque de Sokratis Sinopoulos est invitée à s’exprimer, apportant des merveilles de couleurs et d’intervalles, que le consort de violes accompagne dans une sorte d’immense poème harmonique, où les frontières s’éloignent à mesure que le rapprochement des musiciens se coagule enfin dans une unité parfaite. Un disque lumineux, libre et contemplatif, où la parole perdue ressuscite le mystérieux chemin de la transmission.
Brightly off-coloured, Mai 2019
Joined by L’Achéron and François Joubert-Caillet, and changing up the traditional lute for a Greek lyre, this dungheap bridges a gap between what is past and what art though present. If ’t ev’r gazeth the film Braveheart, and did dug yond soundtrack, thou art going to loveth this wench of an album with all thy heart.
The beauty of this album rests in the amount of space it allows for silence. This album doesn’t tryeth to reacheth thee with epic fucking grandness. Tis speaks to thee on wind. This album t’s joyous. This album t’s lighteth. Thee can picture bunnies, and various joyous Disney animals, fucking like wh’res as this plays. Yet at the heart of each piece sits a deep and sacred woe. This album is an expl’ration in finding beauty in darkest and deepest of teens, in wallowing despair, and in the blackest of hearts. A concept yond hast been ’round f’r a longeth motherfucking timeth. T’s incredible to hark concepts from so long ago that continueth to feeleth as real and the words on this fucking page.
Jean-Stéphane Sourd Durand, BaroquiadeS, Mars 2019
Sokratis Sinopoulos fait sonner sa lyra avec maestria. Les quatre instruments sont le murmure de la plainte de la lyra résonnant dans la constellation de la Lyre (…)
Saluons la souplesse des phrasés, l’expressivité de chaque artiste. La sensibilité instrumentale se met au service de la mélancolie dans une lecture authentique, ne basculant jamais dans l’outrance. La précision des instrumentistes magnifie la polyphonie. (…)
Lachrimæ Lyræ — Tears of Exile
Sokratis Sinopoulos: Greek lyra
& L’Achéron
François Joubert-Caillet: treble viol & direction
Andreas Linos: tenor viol
Lucile Boulanger: tenor viol
Sarah van Oudenhove: bass viol
Based on an original idea of Andreas Linos
Fuga Libera, 2019
This collaboration between a consort of viols and the Greek lyra takes John Dowland’s Lachrimæ or Seaven Teares as its point of departure; together they paint a transverse and stateless picture of melancholy, although this is set against the joyful hope of a shining future that appears in these improvisations and timeless Anglo-Byzantine dances.
