'Actually, all music from the beginning of modern times is a complaint.' This sigh of classicist Serenus Zeitblom (a character in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus) could have been the motto above this fine album by Jean Rondeau. The starting point (and closing song) is the famous Flow My Tears (Lachrimae) from 1596 by John Dowland. Who does not know the sad melody, which slides down like a tear and
… rises again with a deep sigh. Dowland's melancholic top hit had many adapters and imitators. The programme in the booklet shows it nicely. On the right hand side we see the lingering pavanes (e.g. Bull, Scheidemann, Gibbons) which take Dowland's top hit as their starting point. On the left we see, among others, a number of toccatas. These are not the virtuoso toccatas we are used to hearing from Bach and Buxtehude. They are more like melancholic wanderings, with plenty of room for expression and improvisation. Jean Rondeau is particularly free in his use of Frescobaldi's toccatas. (HJ)more
