Ruby Hughes / Jonas Nordberg / Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann(BIS)Joined by lutenist Nordberg and Brinkmann’s viola da gamba, the mezzo-soprano’s homage to the Renaissance composer is captivating and persuasiveJohn Dowland died 400 years ago this year, and we’ll be lucky indeed if there are many other tributes as captivating as this one from the mezzo-soprano Ruby Hughes, lutenist Jonas Nordberg and viola da gamba player Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann. The music is by no means all Dowland – in fact, the recording takes its title from a song by Purcell, and one of its most memorable tracks is a spellbinding version of the Corpus Christi Carol as set by Britten – but everything is steeped in the delicious Elizabethan melancholy that Dowland distilled so very effectively.Hughes’s voice retains a natural quality, for all its refinement, which has been skilfully captured – the recording is close enough for her to be able to be soft and confiding, but there’s still a sense of space around the sound. She’s...