Various vocalists and lutenists specializing in the late Renaissance have constructed artificial tours of the European continent, but soprano Monika Mauch and lutenist Nigel North rely here on an original source to do the same thing. They emerge with a superior product in every way. The original source in question is the book whose cover text is reproduced on the back cover of the CD box: Robert Dowland's A Musical Banquet, published in London in 1610. Robert Dowland was John Dowland's son, and he had a lot of help in this enterprise from his famous father.
Nigel North is one of the finest lute players in our midst today, and his legendary four-CD set, ‘Bach on the Lute’ (Linn records 1994 to 1996) remains unsurpassed in its technical and musical brilliance. Now, he completes his journey with a double CD combining Bach's original 'lute works' (more likely written for Lautenwerck, or luteharpsichord), with North's own lute transcriptions of Bach's music for flute, organ, and more. This is an exquisite recording, full of space and intimacy, which makes you feel as though it is being played just for you. A must-have.
Naxos has collected its four volume traversal of the lute music into a handy slipcase. All the volumes are available singly, but you can also buy the four together as a quartet of excellence, presided over by Nigel North, the acknowledged hero of the hour. What follows is a reprise of two volumes already reviewed - volumes 1 and 3 - and a look at volumes 2 and 4.
If Michel Corrette was a little over-enthusiastic in crediting Corelli with the invention of both sonata and concerto form as it was known and understood in the mid-eighteenth century, Roger North had only to judge by the enormous popularity of the Italian master's works in England in the 1720s to deduce that they would be immortal… Monica Huggett…brings a sweetness of tone and a perfection of technical control that cannot but inspire admiration on their own count, but in combination with such unerring musical insight as is to be found here makes these into quite masterly interpretations… The continuo members of Trio Sonnerie are unerringly tasteful in their playing, while Nigel North on theorbo and other plucked instruments is quite stunningly imaginative.
It is an important moment in the life of a singer when she is able to confront the standard repertory. After years spent studying theatre and music in Shakespeare’s England under the guidance of musicologist Philip Brett, Jill Feldman recorded two programmes of Henry Purcell’s music in 1992, reissued here as a double CD.
This collection represents the full range of Vivaldi recordings Christopher made with the AAM, and includes L'Estro Armonico Op.3, La Stravaganza Op.4, and the violin concertos Opp. 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12; solo concertos for flute (op. 10), oboe, bassoon, and cello; and various concerti grossi. Also featured are the complete cello sonatas, along with the cantatas "Amor, hai vinto" and "Nulla in mundo pax sincera", and sacred vocal works Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus and the enduringly popular Gloria.