Christopher Purves, Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo Handel's Finest Arias For Base Voice, Vol. 2 (2018)

Christopher Purves is renowned for both the powerful sense of dramatic conviction he brings to everything he undertakes, and for a vocal technique which must be heard to be believed. From Handel’s early cantata to selections from Italian opera and English oratorio, this is a recital from a very special singer indeed.

Percy Grainger admired the expressive intensity of the wind band and considered it a more suitable medium for the transcription of early music- such as the Bach and Ferrabosco pieces heard here- than the symphony orchestra. In this second volume of his music for wind ensemble there are further examples from the 23 ‘Chosen Gems for Winds,’ full of his unique elastic scoring, as well as two versions of the ‘Irish Tune from County Derry,’ one of his most beloved works, and a world premiere recording of Grainger’s arrangement of his friend Herman Sandby’s lovely ‘Intermezzo.’

British countertenor Iestyn Davies is one of the fastest rising stars on the concert and opera circuit. Following his highly acclaimed recording of Porpora cantatas, he returns for a second solo album with Hyperion, a selection of arias written for Gaetano Guadagni. Italian-born Guadagni was the first ‘modern’ castrato, famed all over Europe for the lyric purity of his voice and his powerful, naturalistic acting style. Not only did he enjoy a close artistic relationship with Handel, who nurtured Guadagni’s voice to fit the alto roles in his English oratorios, but he effectively created the role of Orpheus in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, an opera he thoroughly made his own. Here, Iestyn Davies is joined again by the renowned period-instrument band Arcangelo, directed by Jonathan Cohen.

British countertenor Iestyn Davies is one of the fastest rising stars on the concert and opera circuit. Following his highly acclaimed recording of Porpora cantatas, he returns for a second solo album with Hyperion, a selection of arias written for Gaetano Guadagni. Italian-born Guadagni was the first ‘modern’ castrato, famed all over Europe for the lyric purity of his voice and his powerful, naturalistic acting style. Not only did he enjoy a close artistic relationship with Handel, who nurtured Guadagni’s voice to fit the alto roles in his English oratorios, but he effectively created the role of Orpheus in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, an opera he thoroughly made his own. Here, Iestyn Davies is joined again by the renowned period-instrument band Arcangelo, directed by Jonathan Cohen.

Anna Prohaska’s recital takes us into the moss-carpeted dreamworlds of Ariosto, Ovid, Shakespeare and Tasso. The theme is transformation, by love or magic or a combination of the two. Arcangelo’s instrumental playing is reliably interesting, sometimes too interesting (Jonathan Cohen is not a ‘less is more’ director). But the most effective enchantment occurs when Prohaska stops trying to fit her dryish, coolish voice into a Patricia Petitbon-shaped presentation box.