John Dowland
John Dowland: First Booke of Songes
Berit Norbakken (Soprano) | Solmund Nystabakk (Lute)
BERIT NORBAKKEN AND SOLMUND NYSTABAKK BRING NEW LIFE TO A RENAISSANCE MASTERWORK
John Dowland: The First Booke of Songes presents soprano Berit Norbakken and lutenist Solmund Nystabakk in an intimate and finely crafted interpretation of one of the most influential publications in early music. the album offers a fresh and deeply expressive reading of Dowland’s 1597 collection, a cornerstone of the English lute‑song tradition.
Dowland’s First Booke is renowned for its emotional breadth, from luminous tenderness to profound melancholy. Norbakken and Nystabakk approach this repertoire with a rare combination of stylistic insight and artistic freedom. Her clear, flexible, and richly colored soprano meets his elegant, historically informed lute playing in performances that highlight the rhetorical nuance, poetic detail, and expressive immediacy of these songs.
The duo’s collaboration reveals the timelessness of Dowland’s musical language. Rather than treating the songs as museum pieces, Norbakken and Nystabakk allow them to breathe with natural phrasing, vivid storytelling, and a sense of direct communication that resonates across centuries. Their interpretation underscores the sophistication of Dowland’s writing—its harmonic daring, its melodic beauty, and its ability to convey human emotion with striking clarity.
John Dowland: The First Booke of Songes invites listeners into a sound world where intimacy and refinement meet. The release stands as both a tribute to Dowland’s enduring legacy and a compelling contemporary artistic statement.
Listen
Tracks
John Dowland (1563–1626)
Credits
- Performer
- Berit Norbakken (Soprano) | Solmund Nystabakk (Lute)
- Composer
- John Dowland
- Producer
- Vegard Landaas
- Engineer
- Thomas Wolden
- Editing
- Vegard Landaas
- Mastering
- Thomas Wolden
- Liner notes
- Berit Norbakken | Solmund Nystabakk
- Executive producer
- Vegard Landaas
- Booklet editor
- Alison Bullock Aarsten
- PR
- Camilla Momkvist-Skau
- Accounting
- Torgeir M. Landaas
- Cover photo
- Unsplash CC Licence
- Artist photo
- Marius Fiskum
- Design
- Anette L’orange | Blunderbuss
- Recording location
- Sofienberg Church, Oslo
- Recording country
- Norway
- Recording year
- 2024
- Recording dates
- 09.04.2024 | 10.04.2024 | 11.04.2024
- Original source
- DXD (352.8 kHz, 24 bit)
- Discs / tracks
- 1 disc | 21 tracks
- Produced with support from
- Fund for Performing Artists | Arts and Culture Norway | The Audio and Visual Fund
- Release year
- 2026
- Label
- LAWO Classics
- Duration
- 1:15:59
- EAN
- 7090020183756
- ISRC
- NOEHX2625010-210
Biographies
Berit Norbakken
Berit Norbakken is one of Scandinavia's most versatile sopranos. She masters a repertoire that ranges from baroque to contemporary music, including folk music. She is a regular soloist in oratorios and passions and regularly works with leading ensembles, orchestras and conductors in famous concert halls all over the world.
This autumn she is currently recording Evening Hymn with the Arctic Philharmonic / Henning Kraggerud. She is also the recipient of the renowned Rolf Gammleng Prize, for her efforts as a performer on a number of recordings and concerts.
For her many recordings, she has received rave reviews from the international music community. In particular, her recording of Arriaga's vocal music, together with the BBC Philharmonic under the direction of Juanjo Mena, has been particularly well received.
Norbakken has performed in the Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, May Festival Cincinnati and in a large number of different concert programs throughout Europe.
As a fellow through the Program for Artistic Development, she has worked closely with the Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist in her doctoral work. In the spring of 2024, she defended her doctoral thesis Borderland - in the voice.
Solmund Nystabakk
From the rural churches of Northern Norway to the baroque palaces of Venice, from Moldejazz to the Wiener Musikverein and the Tampere Biennale, lutenist and guitarist Solmund Nystabakk has performed a repertoire spanning early music and classical to pop and folk music, contemporary music and free improvisation.
He has also composed music for numerous theatre productions, participated in numerous recording sessions, and completed his PhD project in 2020 at the Norwegian Academy of Music and at UiT — The Arctic University of Norway, where he researched the performance of 15th and 16th-century lute songs. Solmund is a member of Ensemble NeoN, which has won the Spellemann Award twice. He also performs in a duo with soprano Berit Norbakken.