This is a specialist disc, with eye-glazing liner notes discussing tablature, provenance, and concordances. Its awkwardness for the general listener begins to show in the fact that the booklet doesn't contain a track listing; you have to go back and forth between the booklet and the back cover of the CD to find out about what you're hearing. The disc does perform the valuable service of introducing a little-known repertoire: it is based on a Hamburg lute manuscript of 1619 that contains an intriguing and international variety of music, including three otherwise unknown John Dowland compositions. Early instrumental music is of interest partly because it was so international, and the music from this manuscript is a mix of German, French, English, and Italian, with quasi-improvisatory works, pieces based on vocal models, dances, and a "hexachord" piece by one Diomedes Cato.
Unfortunately, the performances are just about as off-putting as the liner notes. Lutenist Joachim Held is technically clean but seems not to empathize with the expressive nature of lute music. His dance pieces have an annoying flailing quality, worsened by harsh, in-your-face sound from the usually reliable Hänssler, and the slower pieces are marred by annoying breath and string noises. There is music of interest here for lute specialists, but others should wait for these works to find their way into the more general repertoire.