It has been about two years since I last updated my website—sorry for the long pause! Here is a brief summary of recent site-related news.
First place goes to the new CD of Dowland’s lute songs from his Second Booke of Songs or Ayres (see the dedicated post above). This has been a years-long project with Michael: every once in a while, we would drop into Saint Bartholomew’s Church in Nomaglio, Italy, and record a few songs. The CD has finally been edited, produced, and published by Stradivarius in online-only format. It is available in all the usual places (Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon Music), as well as on the distributor’s website (Naxos).
More CD reviews have also appeared, especially for the recent recording of Dresden sonatas by Weiss. Here they are:
August 2024, MusicPaper – review of Weiss CD by Massimo Rolando ZegnaOctober 2024, Amadeus – five star review of Weiss CD by Marco Riboni
October 2024, Musica – five star review of Weiss CD by Danilo Faravelli
November 2024, Classic Voice – review of Weiss CD by Carlo Fiore
And here are the two lute society reviews:
August 2024, Lute News – review of Weiss CD by Rick Jones
August 2025, LSA Quarterly – review of Weiss CD by David Montanye
Plus, some Capirola CD reviews have also appeared:
January 2022, Il Giornale della Musica – review of Capirola CD by Paolo Scarnecchia
August 2022, Lute News – review of Capirola CD by Rick Jones
Winter 2021, LSA Quarterly – review of Capirola CD by Howard Kadis
Software Updates
New versions of my lute software apps are available. I wrote two apps: one helps calculate string diameters and fretting schemes in different meantone temperaments, and the other is for working with lute tablature. Every once in a while, I make a few improvements and update the software for more modern computer requirements. See the software pages for more information.
Articles
A couple of my articles have also been published by the Lute Society of America. In the Journal, Volume LV (2022), my study “Who Was Vidal?” appeared—a detailed examination of the creation of Vincenzo Capirola’s early sixteenth‑century lute book, apparently written by a mysterious and still‑unidentified scribe known as Vidal.
In the Quarterly, Volume LIX (2024), they published my tablature edition of Capirola’s intabulation of Nicolas Craen’s motet Tota Pulchra es Amica Mea. This piece is one of the works I discuss in the Journal article and is also included on my CD devoted to the music of Vincenzo Capirola.