Stinging Remarks
I mentioned before that Sting had an album out featuring the songs of John Dowland, accompanied by lutenist extraordinaire Edin Karamazov. They’ve now got, in addition, a PBS Great Performances special. Unfortunately, it’s not all sunny reviews:
"Clearly, Sting likes Dowland. Like many pop stars (Paul Simon, for example), he takes a reportorial, almost passive approach toward lyrics that says the passion is in the writing, not in the singing. But Sting’s uninflected, vibrato-free, elongated vowels – they sound like electronic droning – reduce Dowland to a series of abstract sounds that substantially obscure the music’s content and meaning. In effect, Sting doesn’t seem engaged enough to create friction with anything."– David Patrick Stearns
Personally, I don’t think Mr. Stearns is giving Sting enough credit. For one thing, there isn’t anyone who actually knows how the sound of Dowland’s music was supposed to sing–no extant recordings, for the same reason we really don’t know if modern-day crumhorns actually sound the way they did back then. None have survived. (And perhaps that’s a telling commentary on the quality of that music, come to think of it).
Having sung Dowland in my day, I know just how open to interpretation it can be (check out SteelEye Span sometime for some interesting variations). And I happen to like Sting’s, and suspect that it’s pretty similar to the way it was performed…except that Sting wasn’t quite drunk enough. He admits it, though:
"I’m not a trained singer for this repertoire," says the 16-time Grammy winner, "but I’m hoping that I can bring some freshness to these songs that perhaps a more experienced singer wouldn’t give. For me they are pop songs written around 1600 and I relate to them in that way: beautiful melodies, fantastic lyrics and great accompaniments."–PBS
That’s good enough for me. Unfortunately, not only don’t I get digital cable, neither does anyone I know. So, I’m going to miss it…but perhaps I’ll find the video elsewhere.
You can find the album here, btw.
Tags: sting, dowland, music, lute, Into the Labyrinth
The Journey & The Labyrinth: The Music of John Dowland (DVD & CD)
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