Dowland & Benjamin: Seven Tears Upon Silence Sit Fast

• John Dowland (1563-1626):
• 1 Lachrimae antiquae 05:39
• 2 Lachrimae antiquae novae 05:50
• 3 Lachrimae gementes 05:24
• 4 Lachrimae tristes 05:58
• 5 Lachrimae coactae 05:39
• 6 Lachrimae amantis 06:24
• 7 Lachrimae verae 06:11
• George Benjamin (b. 1960): Upon Silence for Mezzo-Soprano and Five Viols:
• 8 Verse I 01:55
• 9 Verse II 02:53
• 10 Verse III 06:52
• Total Runtime 52:45

Info for Dowland & Benjamin: Seven Tears Upon Silence

When John Dowland composes the seven pavans that form the famous Lachrimae, he gives the instrumental repertoire one of its first masterpieces. The Sit Fast consort, lead by Atsushi Sakaï, features a precious version of those timeless pages. Who says the viole should be earmarked for early music? In fact, the pure sonority of this intrument, the ideal vehicle for inner grief, inspired George Benjamin too. Upon Silence, written in 1990 for five violes and a mezzo-soprano on a poem by Yeats, extends and updates the poetics tears of John Dowland. Four centuries separate the two composers but their polyphonic writings and their longing for genuine feelings gather them in that disc, smartly recorded by the elegant Sit Fast consort.

Sarah Breton, mezzo-soprano
Karl Nyhlin, lute
Sit Fast

Sit Fast
a name that arouses curiosity. It sounds like an oxymoron, but “fast” here has nothing to do with speed. “Sit fast” means “sit tight”: in other words, “pay attention”. The English musician Christopher Tye (c.1505-1572) used it for one of his finest compositions, a fascinating piece with complex rhythms and harmonies.

The name therefore refers to the golden age of Elizabethan viol music, but Sit Fast perform a wide-ranging repertoire that includes English music by composers such as Dowland, Lawes, Holborne and Ferrabosco, French music by the likes of Lejeune, Du Caurroy, Moulinié and Charpentier, not forgetting works by J. S. Bach. And they are of course musicians of their own time, with a love for contemporary, jazz and improvised music as well. They play works by living composers, such as George Benjamin, Alexander Goehr and Caroline Marçot., and for a project entitled “Sit Fast and Fear Not” (2012) they worked with three jazzmen, David Chevallier, Jean-Philippe Morel and Christophe Monniot.

All of them former members of well-known French period-instrument ensembles, the founders of Sit Fast share the same musical sensibility, which they express with passion and sincerity.

Sit Fast has rapidly made a name for itself and now appears at major French venues (Lille Opéra, Théâtre d’Orléans, Le Bateau Feu in Dunkirk, Le Vieux Palais at Espalion, etc.) and festivals (Radio France-Montpellier, Entrecastreaux, Saint- Guilhem-le-Désert, Festival des Heures at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris, Midsummer Festival at Château d’Hardelot, Messiaen au Pays de la Meije...). They also take part regularly in broadcasts on France Musique.

Sit Fast’s first recording, of J. S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue, was highly acclaimed by the critics.

“Singe ye trew & care not: for I am trew feare not” wrote Christopher Tye at the end of Sit Fast. There could be no better motto!

Booklet for Dowland & Benjamin: Seven Tears Upon Silence