Covey Icebox

Hyperion presents a second volume of music from the Conductus repertory - the least-known genre of medieval music - performed by tenors John Potter, Christopher O'Gorman, Rogers Covey-Crump, three singers who combine expert knowledge of the music with voices of unearthly beauty. This album contains poems set to music from thirteenth-century England and France. The subjects range from straightforward exhortations to the Virgin Mary to criticisms of the Papal Curia and a depiction of the student riots in Orleans in 1236.

John Dowland (1563–1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" (the basis of Benjamin Britten's 1963 composition for solo guitar, Nocturnal after John Dowland), "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and with the 20th century's early music revival, has been a continuing source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists. Dowland published his The First Booke of Songes or Ayres in London in 1597. It was one of the most influential and important musical publications of the history of the lute. This collection of lute-songs was set out in a way that allows performance by a soloist with lute accompaniment or various combinations of singers and instrumentalists.