So following on from Ruby Hughes’ Dowland heavy album Amidst the Shades we have soprano Clara Brunet and lutenist Bor Zuljan with Mr. Dowland’s Dream.  It’s similar in some ways but very different in others.  For a start Zuljan is playing an orpharion; which sounds a bit like a lute with a reverb pedal.  Mostly he’s using a nine course instrument by Bruce Brook, after a 1617 instrument by Francis Palmer, and sometimes he’s playing an electric orpharion of ten courses by César Arias with magnetic pick ups.  Net result, the sound world is rather different from the Hughes album. Continue reading →