Lully’s “tragédie lyrique en prologue et cinq actes” Alceste is set to a libretto by Philippe Quinault, after Euripides (Alcestis). The first performance took place at the Theâtre du Palais-Royal…
Category: Recordings
Stylish Performances from Trinity College Cambridge
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge has built an unassailable reputation for the quality of its recordings. Amongst the discs under the choir’s ex Director of Music Stephen Layton, there…
Delius: A Mass of Life
‘The status attained by Frederick Delius as a composer ensures for every new work from his pen the respectful attention of all classes of musicians. In the case of a…
Dreams, Desires, Desolation: English Song
In Dreams, Desires, Desolation, baritone Trevor Alexander and pianist Peter Crockford present a miscellany of English song. There are both art songs – some well-known, others less familiar – and…
Homelands: songs of exile, alienation and escape
Homelands is the title of this programme, curated by pianist and writer Aron Goldin and released by Rubicon last October. However, in the context of creative artists’ representation of ‘home’,…
Lawrence Foster conducts Kodály and Bartók on Pentatone
In a tribute essay to Kodály in the 1965 Aldeburgh Festival programme Benjamin Britten suggested, ‘There can be no composer of our century who has done more for the musical…
An imaginative disc of French sacred song from Ad Fontes
This recent compilation for solo voice, harp and organ is a delightful tour d’horizon of songs referencing the Virgin Mary, with works written by those associated with the French organist-composer…
Francisco Guerrero from The Brabant Ensemble
Known by his contemporaries as ‘El cantor de Maria’, Francisco Guererro (1528-99) was a much-travelled musician and composer whose career bridged the gap between Cristóbal de Morales and Tomás Luis…
Glorious performances from Ensemble Aedes and Les Siècles
This recent Marian-themed disc from the French record label Aparté brings together a trio of works by two composers four centuries apart: a single offering by the Renaissance Clément Janequin…
New Millennium: Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge
Signum’s latest release of 21st-century choral music is a hugely rewarding survey of anthems and organ music from living composers, many of whom are graduates of Cambridge University. With eight…