John Dowland is without doubt one of the most famous English composers, the foremost exponent of the Golden Age of the Elizabethan Era of the 16th and 17th Century. Dowland’s works fully reflect the spirit and tastes of the Elizabethan age, with their tendency towards deep melancholy and their pronounced focus on darkness, moonlight and night-time. Despite the predominance of grief, sadness, tears and death there are also works in which a sense of optimism, lightness and joy prevail. This new recording presents a selection of famous and favourite lute works by Dowland, played on guitar: Lachrimae, Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe, The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard, Mignarda, Dowland’s Galliard and many more. As a fitting addition and tribute Pascal Boëls plays the homage to Dowland by Benjamin Britten, titled “Nocturnal” after John Dowland. Played by Pascal Boëls, who is regarded as one of the best current specialists of the ten-string guitar, with the extension of the bass notes which permits an exact fidelity to the musical text.