This is a very personal “come and meet Dowland” kind of recording. Jonas Nordberg makes a loving selection of pieces showing many facets of Dowland’s musical personality, and as a performer he doesn’t hide behind an ultra-glossy, arms-length technique—it all feels very approachable. But that’s just the half of it. He’s found pieces like “Can She Excuse” which are lute transcriptions of Dowland’s own songs, so that we can observe Dowland’s own playing technique at close quarters. Nordberg himself plays a lute strung with real gut strings, which offer a naturally rich and warm sound and allow individual notes to sing out—particularly striking in “Forlorn Hope” with its falling melancholy theme. The final personal touch is the recording quality, close to the body of the instrument, capturing the sounds of the hands on the strings and the concentration of the player.