Roderick Shaw, a Cambridge organ scholar and expatriate, seems to be making a success of marketing Purcell abroad. This is his second recording—the first was of Dido and Aeneas (reviewed last month)—with the Academy of the Begynhof Amsterdam, which he founded. At present, the Academy comprises only three singers (two sopranos and baritone), two violins, cello and harpsichord, though it seems in spirit to have much in common with the longer established King's Consort. Unlike the King's Consort, the Academy is made up of a mixture of Americans and Europeans and as such avoids the mannerisms usually associated with Dutch ensembles.
Shaw's singers are less widely known but full of promise. The American Barbara Bordon has the lion's share of the solos and she sings particularly beautifully in John Blow's No, Lesbia, no, you ask in vain (the ''no''s fairly send shivers up my spine!). Bordon and the throatier-voiced Belgian Camille van Lunen produce very different sounds in their solos but nevertheless blend very successfully in the lovely ground bass duo Let Caesar and Urania live (wrongly ascribed in the booklet) and the exquisitely inflected O dive custos. The baritone David Barick is certainly a singer to watch: the lightness, clarity and resonance of his voice make him a joy to listen to in High on a throne.
In addition to the ritornellos, the strings contribute two sonatas, one of which is actually the well-known G minor Chaconne. The members of the Academy play with precision, occasionally bordering on the blended sound of true consort playing (as in the Poco Largo of the D minor Sonata), and verve. However, the balance isn't always as it should be—especially in the Chaconne and in the final allegro of the D minor Sonata, though this fault may lie with the miking. The continuo playing of Roderick Shaw and the cellist Viola de Hoog is exemplary throughout: juste comme il faut. If there were anything to quibble about, it would be a want of personality, which indeed may be made manifest in subsequent recordings.'