Ibrahim Aziz, John Bryan, Alison Crum, Andrew Kerr, Roy Marks viols with Jamie Akers lute

In his ground-breaking set of Lachrimae, published in 1604, Dowland describes ‘teares’ as not always being shed ‘in sorrowe, but sometime in joy and gladnesse’. The ‘Seaven Passionate Pavans’ that he based on his famous song Flow my teares form a deeply moving sequence, unique in its time. Here they are heard in the context of some of Dowland’s more joyful dances for viols and lute, plus music by Orlande de Lassus and Alfonso Ferrabosco that might have inspired his own.