A Purcell Collection / Voces8, Les Inventions

$19.99
Label
Signum Classics
Release Date
April 29, 2014
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      PURCELL, HENRY
    • PERFORMER
      Voces8, Les Inventions
    Product Details ⌄



PURCELL Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. To the Hills and Vales. By the Beauteous Softness Mix’d with Majesty. O God, Thou art my God. How Happy the Lover. What Power Thou Art. Behold, O Mightiest of Gods. My Heart is Inditing of a Good Matter. Bid the Virtues. Hail! Bright Cecilia. Strike the Viol. Thou Knowest Lord the Secrets of Our Hearts. Fairest Isle. Full Fathom Five • Voces8; Les Inventions; Andrea Haines, Emily Dickens (s); Barnaby Smith (ct); Samuel Dressel (t); Dingle Yandell (bs) • SIGNUM 2975 (70:18)


Voces8 is an (of course) eight-member group whose repertoire ranges from “Renaissance polyphony to unique jazz and pop arrangements.” Here they are joined with the distinguished French-based instrumental group Les Inventions. Together they have put together a kind of anthology of Purcell’s music that they charmingly describe as a stroll through his world. It’s more than that. We hear a particularly lovely rendition by the voices of Purcell’s unaccompanied dirge Thou Knowest, Lord, a gracious performance by countertenor Barnaby Smith of Purcell’s praise for Queen Mary, By Beauteous Softness Mix’d with Majesty (with a text by the oft-reviled Thomas Shadwell), and a comical What Power Thou Art. In this piece, nicknamed The Cold Song, bass Dingle Yandell impersonates the spirit of Britain being reluctantly awakened from a frosty slumber. One can virtually hear his teeth chatter. The choral pieces are just as effective, and the instrumental playing, including the oboe obbligato in Bid the Virtues, is lovely as well. There is spirit here when it is called for, and pathos as well. Although such definitive pieces as “Dido’s Lament” are not here, this collection would be an excellent introduction to Purcell as a reminder of his range for those whose know him well.


FANFARE: Michael Ullman