Thanks for the heads-up on this, Jim! This sounds very interesting.

I know there are folks who like to put Sting down, but I'm definitely not one of them. Actually, he's a darn fine musician and good singer in his own right. I've seen him on a number of occasions on a clip on the Classic Arts Showcase channel where he's playing classic guitar (the piece sounded familiar, but I couldn't identify it) as an accompaniment to a ballet dancer. Nicely done. And some time back, I heard (on one of the PBS pledge break specials, I think) Luciano Pavarotti and Sting doing Panis Angelicus as a duet. Actually as a sort of canon, with Pavarotti singing a line, followed by Sting singing the same line. Beautiful! Very interesting contrast of voices! And Sting did not come out "second best" because there was no second best in this. It was a musical collaboration that worked beautifully.

Sting is gutsy. He doesn't seem to be content to drop into a rut and just sit there. He experiments, and is willing to stick his neck out and try new and different things. Gotta admire that!

This is going to be a very interesting CD. I've always heard Dowland and other Elizabethan era songs sung by classically trained tenors (Peter Pears, etc.), usually taking a kind of delicate, artsy sort of approach. I like a lot of the songs, and although I can handle the accompaniments on the guitar (I play several lute pieces transcribe for the guitar), I've always figured my "frog in a rain barrel" bass voice wasn't right for this material. It will be most interesting to hear how Sting does it. I may even screw up my courage and give it a try myself.

Thanks again!

Don Firth