1. Thomas Morley (1557/8 – 1602) A Painted Tale (2.39)
2. Henry Purcell (1659 – 95) O solitude (5.42)
3. Robert Johnson (1572/3 – 1637) Have you seen but a
4. John Blow (1649 – 1708) Fairest work of
5. Blow The Self Banished (2.01)
6. Nicholas Lanier (1588 – 1666) Fire, Fire (1.52)
7. Blow O turn not those fine eyes away (3.17)
8. Purcell Sweeter than roses (3.21)
9. Purcell She loves and she confesses too (2.16)
10. Lanier No more shall meads be deck’d
11. John Dowland (1563 – 1626) My thoughts are winged with hopes (2.34)
12. Blow Of all the torments, all the cares (3.57)
13. Dowland Can she excuse my wrongs
14. Purcell Not all my torments (2.48)
15. Alfonso Ferrabosco (1575 – 1628) So, so Leave off this last lamenting kiss (2.49)
happy nature (3.23)
16. Dowland In darkness let me dwell
17. Dowland Now, O now I needs must part
18. Dowland Come Heavy Sleep
19. Lanier Stay, Silly Heart
20. Purcell Evening Hymn

For his third AVIE album, tenor Nicholas Phan turns to a group of Renaissance and Baroque English composers who greatly influenced Benjamin Britten, the muse of his two previous acclaimed recordings – Still falls the Rain (AV 2258) and Winter Words (AV 2238), his solo debut recording which topped the Best Classical Recordings lists of NPR, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. A Painted Tale – the title taken from a lyric by 16th century composer Thomas Morley – features songs with lute and viola da gamba by Blow, Dowland, Ferrabosco the Younger, Lanier and Purcell. Describing the programme, which tells a story of love gained and then lost, Nick says, “What has drawn me so powerfully to song is its timelessness. Reading the poetry in these songs I am fascinated by how little the human experience has changed over the centuries. By assembling these various songs into what I call ‘a pastiche song cycle,’ I hope that creating a dramatic context for these pieces will highlight how relevant this material still is today.” Phan performs the programme on his solo recital at Carnegie Hall on March 18.

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Recorded 21 & 22 October 2014 at Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA Producer, engineer and editing: Marlan Barry