Thomas Dunford - Songs of Passion: Purcell, Dowland

With Songs of Passion, a collection of vocal and instrumental music by John Dowland and Henry Purcell - English composers born nearly a century apart - mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, lutenist Thomas Dunford and Ensemble Jupiter have created a companion to their previous Erato albums, Eternal Heaven, Idylle and Amazone. Dowland is known for his intimate evocations of amorous melancholy in his writing for voice and for lute, while the music of Purcell - the greatest British-born composer of the Baroque era - encompasses a rich diversity of moods and emotions.