The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
Along with his earlier survey of court music for James II he is now a third of the way through the composer’s twenty-four Odes and Welcome Songs, works written for special occasions prompted by royal birthdays, the various returns of the monarch to London and celebrations of St Cecilia’s Day. Typically, these works demonstrate Purcell’s theatrical instincts and a natural gift for word painting, not least his ability to elevate prosaic and often obsequious texts with imaginatively conceived music of great distinction.
As with volumes 1 and 2 of this series, the disc combines sacred and secular music that, with few exceptions, brings to the fore several neglected corners of Purcell’s art - in part owing to undistinguished texts and the music’s occasional nature such as songs for the theatre. Two stage-based pieces, ‘Blow, Boreas, blow’ and ‘Retired from any mortal’s sight’ both display a sensibility to contrasting texts. The first is a vivid sea-faring saga to words by Purcell’s near contemporary Thomas Durfey in which the composer brilliantly captures a storm-tossed sea, its imagery given dramatic impetus by Mark Dobell and Stuart Young whose zesty performance fully evokes a sailor’s fears and valour. The second, in the form of a lament, allows Jeremy Budd’s gleaming tenor to express the impending death of the monarch in Nahum Tate’s adaption of Shakespeare’sRichard II. A third theatre song ‘Thy genius, lo!’ finds a lugubrious Ben Davies refers to the miseries of the French Huguenots portrayed in Nathaniel Lee’s play The Massacre of Paris.
A fine duet, ‘Close thine eyes and sleep secure’, forms a harmonically rich setting of words by Francis Quarles (originally attributed to Charles I), outlining the benefits of a clear conscious for a good night’s sleep. Tenderly sung by Katy Hill and Ben Davies their perfectly matched voices wafting over delicate continuo support. Two festive Psalm settings for four and two voices honouring by implication God and Charles II make attractive if unremarkable contributions to this compilation. More distinctive church music is represented by the well-known ‘symphony’ anthem ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’, renowned for its descending scale patterns and a text that venerates both Deity and King. There’s much to enjoy in the buoyant and crisply delivered string playing and a well-blended solo group with discreet decorative flourishes. My only reservation is the buttoned-up quality, its tutti passages fresh in an ‘apple-cheeked’ sort of way, but not quite hearty enough to arrest the ear. An instance surely where polish is almost a curse not a virtue.
Where the latter makes regular appearances within cathedral music lists, the Welcome Songs, especially for Charles II, largely remain unperformed. Fawning texts do not help ‘What shall be done in behalf of the man?’ and ‘From those serene and rapturous joys’ which will continue to be seldom-performed curiosities. Fascinating as they may be in sharpening our understanding of royal approval and political undercurrents in the 17 th century, Purcell’s skill in trumping weak verse is neatly summarised by the satirist Thomas Brown (1662-1704) who wrote, ‘For where the Author’s scanty words have failed/Your happier Graces, Purcell, have prevailed’.
As ever with The Sixteen playing and singing are exemplary; a swinging opening chorus of ‘What shall be done in behalf of the man?’ pays tribute to the Duke of York, while Jeremy Budd capers like a dashing courtier through “All the grandeur he possesses”. Purcell artfully plays with rhythmic stresses in “Let us sing the praises” making the most of its anonymous text. Expressive harmonies in “Mighty Charles” do not conceal unctuous sentiments, but the winsome soprano duet “May all factious troubles cease” (Kirsty Hopkins and Katy Hill) makes a charming closing movement.
‘From those serene and rapturous joys’ (to a text by Thomas Flatman), was written to celebrate the King’s return to Whitehall in September 1684. Songs eloquent, dainty and rumbustious all create variety of weight and colour. Of particular note are the depths to which Stuart Young descends in “Welcome as soft refreshing show’rs” and, in the closing solo and chorus, Harry Christophers coaxes a splendid string sound with its evocation of trumpets and drums.
Altogether, Christophers coaxes neat and tidy performances from an octet of singers and an expanded string ensemble (including a pair of recorders and three continuo players) who produce an impressive clarity of diction and tone. The acoustic at St Augustine’s, Kilburn is also finely caught.
David Truslove
The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers
Purcell - ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’; Chaconne, ‘Two in one upon a ground’; ‘Close thine eyes and sleep secure’; ‘Blow, Boreas, blow’; ‘O all ye people, clap your hands’; Catch: ‘Come, my hearts, play your parts’; ‘What shall be done in behalf of the man?’; Overture in D minor; ‘Thy genius, lo!’; ‘O praise the Lord, all ye heathen’; ‘Retir’d from any mortal’s sight’; ‘From those serene and rapturous joys’