Kostas Grigoreas plays Britten's "Nocturnal after John Dowland, Op. 70", a musical masterpiece of the 20th century. Recorded in an acoustically live environment with a cedar-top guitar, constructed by Nikos Efthymiou in 2017. Microphones by Earthworks.
It was composed in 1963 by English composer Benjamin Britten for guitarist Julian Bream. It is considered one of the most influential works written in the twentieth century for the classical guitar.
Julian Bream premiered the piece on 12 June 1964.
The piece is in eight movements as follows:
1. Musingly
2. Very Agitated
3. Restless
4. Uneasy
5. March-like
6. Dreaming
7. Gently Rocking
8. Passacaglia
9. Slow and Quiet
The piece is based on "Come, Heavy Sleep" from John Dowland's First Book of Songs (1597). Each movement is a variation progressively closer to the Dowland song which concludes the final movement.
