John Dowland stands out as the most tuneful Elizabethan lute composer. Whether creating tunes for dances, variatons on popular ballads or weaving a contrapuntal fantasia, his melodies lodge in the memory and resound there long after the music has stopped. Over half of Dowland's compostitions are written in dance forms - mostly pavans, galliards and almains. These pieces are written as art music, not intended to accompany dancing, though they embody the character of the physical movements of the dance. - Ronn McFarlane