Victorious Love - Purcell Songs | BIS BISSACD1536

Victorious Love - Purcell Songs

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Label: BIS

Cat No: BISSACD1536

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 1st October 2007

Contents

Artists

Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Laurence Cummings (harpsichord/spinet)
Elizabeth Kenny (archlute/theorbo)
Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol)
Sarah Sexton (violin I)
Andrea Morris (violin II)
Jane Rogers (viola)

Works

Purcell, Henry

An Evening Hymn, Z193 'Now that the sun hath veiled his light'
From silent shades ('Bess of Bedlam'), Z370
If music be the food of love, Z379
King Arthur (The British Worthy), Z628
» Fairest isle
Music for a while, Z583
O! Fair Cedaria, Z402
Of Old, when Heroes though it was Base, Z333
» no.3 The Bashful Thames
O solitude, my sweetest choice, Z406
Pausanius, the Betrayer of his Country, Z585
» Sweeter than Roses
Tell me, some pitying angel, Z196 'The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation'
The Fairy Queen, Z629
» If love's a sweet passion
» Now the night is chac'd away
» O, let me weep (Act 5)
The Indian Queen, Z630
» I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain
» They tell us that you mighty Powers above
The Mock Marriage (incidental music), Z605
» Man is for the woman made
The fatal hour comes on apace, Z421
Thrice happy lovers (An Epithalamium)
When first Amintas sued for a kiss, Z430

Artists

Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Laurence Cummings (harpsichord/spinet)
Elizabeth Kenny (archlute/theorbo)
Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol)
Sarah Sexton (violin I)
Andrea Morris (violin II)
Jane Rogers (viola)

About

Two song anthologies published shortly after the death of Henry Purcell in 1695 have inspired this highly varied programme. Quoting the liner notes by lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, ‘recital programmes put together from the anthologies by the original purchasers would have mixed the genres without inhibition. Generally people sang what they liked and played what they liked, in any order they liked.’

It was this free-and-easy approach which incited soprano Carolyn Sampson and her co-performers to combine settings with accompaniments ranging from a single lute or spinet to string quartet with continuo. In Kenny’s words: ‘Seen from modern historically-informed or “authentic” perspectives a not-quite-familiar Purcell emerges, a composer of Gebrauchsmusik, flexibly scored and flexibly interpretable: virtuosic if the performers wish, innocently affecting if not.’ Including some of Purcell’s most well-loved songs as well as lesser-known gems, this collection has as its motto a line from the opening song Sweeter than roses: ‘What magic has victorious love’.

As one of today’s most magic – not to say victorious – singers, whether on the opera stage or in the concert hall, Carolyn Sampson’s previous appearances on BIS have earned her high praise, for instance in American Record Guide (“Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism”).

On this her first solo recital disc for BIS she is supported by some of the finest musicians in the field, including Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol), Elizabeth Kenny (lute) and Laurence Cummings (harpsichord).

Reviews

This disc ... is arguably the finest collection of Purcell songs in the catalogue. Moreover, the layout of the recital could hardly be better managed: every song is set off by what has come before and what follows.
Penguin Guide 2009
Penguin Guide 4 stars Gramophone Editor's Choice Penguin Rosette Winner

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