Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Amour et Mascarade

Classical Music

Linn Records is thrilled to introduce soprano Rowan Pierce in what promises to be a sensational debut recording. The Cares of Lovers comprises songs from across Purcell's brief career from She loves and she confesses too, one of his very first published pieces (1683), to Sweeter than roses from his final months (1695). Although they all display the same matchless ingenuity and uncanny ability to set English words to music, a highlight includes Tell me, some pitying angel - a triumph of dramatic composition and the equal of any Italian cantata of the period. Since winning the President's Award at the Royal College of Music in 2017, Pierce has won acclaim for her performances at The Barbican, Royal Festival Hall and at the BBC Proms. Her performance in Purcell's The Fairy Queen, with the Academy of Ancient Music, won praise for her 'expressive' (Financial Times) and 'heart-piercing' (The Independent) singing. Richard Egarr and William Carter, two baroque music heavy-weights, join Pierce for this recording, made in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Classical Music

The Armonico Consert and soloists perform Henry Purcell's evergreen chamber opera Dido & Aeneas, the work based on Virgil's epic, the Aeneid. Armonico Consert is one of the largest and most innovative organizations of it's kind in the UK, existing to inspire audiences with it's unique programs. About Armonico Consert: "... The whole thing seems suffused with light reflected from Manahan Thomas' voice, and Steele-Perkins' effortlessly projected trumpet." (BBC Radio 3 CD review of Let The Bright Seraphim, SIGCD289) "... a disc of unending delight." (Gramophone review of Naked Byrd Two, SIGCD235).

Classical Music

There are several multi-disc sets featuring Purcell’s complete Ayres for the Theatre, but remarkably few that offer a generous selection on a single disc. Here we have extended suites from Dioclesian, King Arthur, The Fairy Queen, and The Indian Queen. These collections of brief dances and interludes, with most individual numbers lasting less than two minutes, are unfailingly fresh and entertaining, and they are played here with exceptional enthusiasm and verve. The suite from The Fairy Queen is particularly extensive and wide-ranging in its musical material. This release seemed to get somewhat lost in the shuffle when originally released on Sony, appearing and dropping out of sight almost quicker than the shortest number included on the disc itself (33 seconds, if you want to be exact). So it’s great to see it salvaged from the musical wreck that is now Sony/BMG, and reissued on the orchestra’s own label. This initiative deserves success, just as this disc deserves a place in your collection.

— David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

The great patriotic opera of the 17th century, recorded here in a lively new performing edition after two decades in the Gabrieli’s touring repertoire. Notoriously difficult to present on recording or in concert, this version presented by Gabrieli was created to allow an obvious musical narrative, despite Purcell’s music often being completely dislocated from much of the original theatre context. Gabrieli have been performing the music from King Arthur for nearly a quarter of a century, evolving their interpretation over time. With the score having to be pieced together using separate versions (due to Purcell’s originals being lost), and with Gabrieli’s evolved interpretation of the music, the end product of this recording is truly unique. Their next release on Signum will be with the semi-opera by Purcell, Fairy Queen, in April next year, which is an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

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REVIEW:

The eight soloists with two additional singers form an excellent chorus that is adept in every context. Throughout the opera McCreesh’s speeds are relaxed rather than driven – no bad thing, to my mind, and it results in Dryden’s wonderful poetry being acted with personable clarity, and the lucidity of musical gestures ensures that affection and intimacy are the hallmarks of a performance that conveys a humane smile.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

Classical Music

The charm of this opera is in that it contains everything, like Cervantes’ Don Quixote: any life experience is within it. Love, hate, death, dream, despair, the innocent and the wicked play. Purcell’s awareness in portraying such opposite feelings is amazing as well as the room that he leaves to the conductor. So, here is why a new “Dido”: as an artist in love with this opera, Fabio Bonizzoni wants to deliver his reading. He wants to translate Purcell’s “sign” his own way, how much this opera is alive, lively, modern, contemporary. How Purcell’s genius was able to convey Dido’s despair and Aeneas’ cowardice and how much Purcell himself had fun in depicting the plot. Fabio Bonizzoni, one of the leading Italian harpsichordists and organists of his generation, graduated in organ, organ composition and harpsichord at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague in Ton Koopman’s class. He frequently enjoys commitments as guest conductor: in recent times he has been invited by Capella Cracoviensis and Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra in Poland, by the Holland Bach Society in The Netherlands, and by the Orchestra Barroca de Sevilla.