Purcell Airs and Instrumental Music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Henry Purcell
Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 9/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RD77252
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (A) Choice Collection of Lessons, Movement: SUITES: |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| If music be the food of love |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Chaconne - Three parts upon a ground |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (The) Fairy Queen, Movement: Second Musick: |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (The) Fairy Queen, Movement: Hark! the echoing air |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| St Cecilia's Day Ode, 'Hail, bright Cecilia', Movement: 'Tis Nature's voice |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (3) Hornpipes, Movement: D minor, 'Round 0', Z T684 (Abdelazer, Z570) |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Overture |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Lord, what is man? |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Chaconne for Strings |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Oedipus, Movement: Music for a while (song) |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| Lovely Albina's come ashore |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (9) Fantasias, Movement: D minor, Z739 |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (4) Grounds, Movement: C minor, T D221 (spurious, by ?Croft) |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (4) Pavans, Movement: B flat |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
| (An) Evening Hymn on a Ground, 'Now that the sun hath veil'd his light' |
Henry Purcell, Composer
Capriccio Stravagante Henry Purcell, Composer Howard Crook, Tenor Skip Sempé, Harpsichord |
Author: Lindsay Kemp
This disc practically busts a gut to be different. Only 53 seconds in, what has been a sprightly rendition of the Prelude to the C major Harpsichord Suite (Z666) suddenly turns into a no less lively account of the string symphony which normally adorns the Queen Mary birthday ode, Now does the glorious day appear. And there are further startling innovations to follow, including a similar stunt involving the elision of a Ground in C minor (ZD221) for harpsichord with a rendition on recorders (the only appearance these particular instruments make on the whole record) of the ''Two in one upon a ground'' from Dioclesian; and a chordal accompaniment for gamba alone to the first part of the 'divine hymn', Lord, what is Man?.
Such bold experimentalism is something we're coming to expect from Skip Sempe's Paris-based group, and it's certainly one way to make something of this mixed programme of vocal and instrumental music, a selection which otherwise might be said to lack any obvious structural pattern. But whether it really suits the music on this particular occasion is open to question, and one wonders, too, whether the disregard shown here for sheer quality of sound will win all that many admirers. Personally, I found the string-playing in the famous Chacony and the Three parts upon a ground rather scrawny (though undoubtedly contrapuntally clear), while in other places performances were heavily interpreted, at too great a cost to the lyrical charms of Purcell's music. The well-knownRound-O (taken from Abdelazer), played on solo gamba, really comes in for the treatment, with the strenuous effort thus caused to its executant (presumably Jay Bernfeld) being emphasized by sniffing and grunting so immediate that it may well have nervous listeners glancing over their shoulders to check that they are alone.
The singing of Howard Crook, though his voice is essentially a pleasing one, seems to aim for a similar belligerence, notably in '''Tis Nature's voice''—muscular rather than languorous—and the Evening Hymn, which to my mind is simply too slow and mannered. More successful are the two pieces for viol consort—the Fantasia in B flat and the Pavan in B flat—whose more old-fashioned forms benefit more from Capriccio Stravagante's determined campaign to make something of them. But in the end I found this disc one in which Purcell's music just isn't quite the pleasant hour's company it ought to be.'
Such bold experimentalism is something we're coming to expect from Skip Sempe's Paris-based group, and it's certainly one way to make something of this mixed programme of vocal and instrumental music, a selection which otherwise might be said to lack any obvious structural pattern. But whether it really suits the music on this particular occasion is open to question, and one wonders, too, whether the disregard shown here for sheer quality of sound will win all that many admirers. Personally, I found the string-playing in the famous Chacony and the Three parts upon a ground rather scrawny (though undoubtedly contrapuntally clear), while in other places performances were heavily interpreted, at too great a cost to the lyrical charms of Purcell's music. The well-known
The singing of Howard Crook, though his voice is essentially a pleasing one, seems to aim for a similar belligerence, notably in '''Tis Nature's voice''—muscular rather than languorous—and the Evening Hymn, which to my mind is simply too slow and mannered. More successful are the two pieces for viol consort—the Fantasia in B flat and the Pavan in B flat—whose more old-fashioned forms benefit more from Capriccio Stravagante's determined campaign to make something of them. But in the end I found this disc one in which Purcell's music just isn't quite the pleasant hour's company it ought to be.'
Purcell Airs and Instrumental Music
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