Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Not only does this release celebrate the female voice, but also some largely forgotten female composers. Luzzaschi's Madrigali a uno, due e tre soprano of 1601 represents the sole surviving publication of a unique and highly important repertoire; that of the much famed singing ladies (concerto delle donne) of Ferrara. By the 1580s the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II, had become so obsessed with the sound of soprano voices, that he was procuring the finest singers of the time and establishing them in his court for his musica secreta, or secret music. It is among the most vocally challenging music surviving, and attests to high quality of vocal training in the sixteenth century. It is something of a miracle that even one copy of the original publication survived. In an age when singer/composers were relatively common, no single woman had as much of her music published as Barbara Strozzi. She led a remarkable life and one most unusual for a woman in Venice in 1619. Her father, poet Giulio Strozzi, was at the centre of the cultural and intellectual life in Venice and through him she was able to partake of that life. Between 1644 and 1664 Barbara Strozzi published 8 books of vocal music. By far the majority of this output is for solo soprano, but just how successful she was is unknown. After her final publication in 1664 nothing more is known of her. As she wrote herself in the dedication to her opus 5: "Since I am no more held back by feminine weakness than by any allowance made for my sex, I fly on lightest leaves in devotion to make my bow."

Gef Lucena writes: "1962 marked the year of the traditional folk revival in Bristol and surrounding counties. I was half of the folk duo, The Crofters, the other half being Martin Pyman and the formation of our duo coincided with the 'Centre 42' movement initiated by London playwright Arnold Wesker whose aim it was to 'bring folk music back to the people'. This objective was not entirely successful, but it helped to eventually bring about the formation of a number of folk clubs in the area. For us it was of immense importance as we were being sent out to very unlikely pubs to sing alongside the likes of Francis McPeake, Louis Killen, Bob Davenport, Cyril Tawney and other top traditional singers of the day. I started songwriting around this time - songs mostly now long forgotten. The ITV station of the day (TWW - Television Wales and the West) picked up on this 'new' music and ran the series 'At the Cider Apple' and The Crofters were fortunate to be on each programme. The TWW connection lead to a commission for me to write a song to commemorate the opening of the first Severn Bridge crossing in 1966 which we performed on the day and the scratchy old version with it's bucket reverb reproduced on this album is probably that very performance. Apart from the three early songs mentioned above, most of the remainder of the songs are 2017 to 2019 compositions with some based on early drafts from around 1985."