Setting aside the level of difficulty, the piece is in a very different, and later style. I supposes if you played it very fast, it would be more difficult. For some reason I always thought of it as more gallant than speedy, but I haven't looked at it in a while.
Dowland's authoritative works, of which there are few, I believe present a real musical message, or statement. In this case, the statement seems to be, "well, I don't like mindless divisions, I prefer real counterpoint, but if you insist on divisions, here is an interesting and musical way to do it" Not to say that I know what he is thinking, I don't, but that is the way I read it in the context of his letters and other writings. He is caving a bit toward the new styles, for a book designed for popular appeal. So the question of which lute to use is easy to solve--the later one. Then the pairing becomes an interesting question, I'll see if there is a way to do it, it would be fun to see if any of the Pavans in LOST might be a good match. I'll start with Coactae (V). dt Amateur, really? Lightening-quick divisions over a moving bass easy amateur material? > The combination of the faster notes with less chords > was irrestible, > presumably because they are easier to play yet sound > more difficult. Hmmm... interesting perspective. Personally, I've never found fast runs to be all that easy. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
