Purcell Complete Odes & Welcome Songs, Vol.1
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Henry Purcell
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 2/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66314
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Birthday Ode Arise, my Muse |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael Chance, Alto Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor |
| Birthday Ode, 'Now does the glorious day appear' |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Charles Pott, Bass Gillian Fisher, Soprano Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor |
| St Cecilia's Day Ode, 'Welcome to all the pleasures' |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Gillian Fisher, Soprano Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael Chance, Alto Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor Tessa Bonner, Soprano |
Composer or Director: Henry Purcell
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 2/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: KA66314
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Birthday Ode Arise, my Muse |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael Chance, Alto Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor |
| Birthday Ode, 'Now does the glorious day appear' |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Charles Pott, Bass Gillian Fisher, Soprano Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor |
| St Cecilia's Day Ode, 'Welcome to all the pleasures' |
Henry Purcell, Composer
(The) King's Consort Charles Daniels, Tenor Gillian Fisher, Soprano Henry Purcell, Composer James Bowman, Alto John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Michael Chance, Alto Michael George, Bass Robert King, Conductor Tessa Bonner, Soprano |
Author:
The King's Consort are known for their very workmanlike performances: the right singers and players in the right proportions, clearly articulating phrases and texts in sprightly and affecting tempos. To their usual number trumpets, oboes and recorders have been added for Queen Mary's 1690 birthday ode, Arise my Muse. Charles Daniels delivers two arias, the darker timbre of his alto/tenor voice nicely contrasting with the lighter voices of Michael Chance and James Bowman (whose voice is now lightest of all), which are aided by the trumpets in ''Hail gracious Gloriana, hail''. The political overtones of the male trio, ''To quell his country's foes'' and Michael Chance's ''But ah, I see Eusebia [the Anglican church] drown'd in tears'' might seem strange birthday fare, addressed as they are to the queen's consort, but are the more palatable for the final chorus exhorting him to ''Go on, great Prince, go on''.
The year before, Purcell had succeeded with another, less lavishly scored (five-part strings, in the French manner), birthday ode,Now does the glorious day appear. The tenor John Mark Ainsley sings nobly in ''This does our fertile isle with glory crown'', but not content with a single conquest, Purcell surpasses one ground-bass aria with another: ''By beauteous softness'', sung here so disarmingly by James Bowman, was calculated to melt the heart of even the queen. Shadwell flattered the queen with the duo ''Her hero too'', which Purcell allocated to two basses, whose virile sound reflects favourably upon the king. The ode ends with the soloists lending their voices to a resounding chorus.
Finally, there is the 1683 St Cecilia's Day ode, which contains two marvellously sung trios for alto, tenor and bass, and a ground-bass aria with ritornellos—weighed down by the inclusion of double-bass in the continuo—for violin, ''Here the Deities approve'', sung by Bowman. Here, as elsewhere on the disc (for example, Ainsley's solo in the 1689 birthday ode) the engineers have allowed a hollow-sounding resonance to prevail.'
The year before, Purcell had succeeded with another, less lavishly scored (five-part strings, in the French manner), birthday ode,
Finally, there is the 1683 St Cecilia's Day ode, which contains two marvellously sung trios for alto, tenor and bass, and a ground-bass aria with ritornellos—weighed down by the inclusion of double-bass in the continuo—for violin, ''Here the Deities approve'', sung by Bowman. Here, as elsewhere on the disc (for example, Ainsley's solo in the 1689 birthday ode) the engineers have allowed a hollow-sounding resonance to prevail.'
Purcell Complete Odes & Welcome Songs, Vol.1
Purcell Complete Odes & Welcome Songs, Vol.1
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