Furling Meg Baird

In his notes Colin Tilney says that the use of small rooms advocated by Caccini and his colleagues helped the audience to hear the words. Well, a recording heard in one's own music room represents a small enough space, but the listener to this disc will often find the printed texts invaluable; Julianne Baird seems to sacrifice some clarity to the beauty of her musical lines, the 'bel-ness' of her canto.

Recorded in NYC, November 3 & 11, 1958. Originally issued on Design Records - Stereo Spectrum SS32. Orchestra arranged and conducted by Mercer Ellington.

Handel’s group of nine German arias, composed in London in the mid 1720s, is unique in his vocal output. They are not big display pieces, and they are not excerpts from operas or oratorios. In fact, we don’t know much about the purpose behind their composition. Catriona MacLeod’s excellent notes make a good case for these having been written for private in-home performances, like the trio sonatas with which Chandos fills out this disc. These are significantly more intimate and inward-looking arias than much of Handel’s vocal writing, reflective in nature—and also chamber-like in the musical relationships between voice and instruments.

This compact disc includes mostly premiere recordings of works by Jane Vignery, Carol Barnett, Edna Frida Pietsch, Elsa Barraine, Odette Gartenlaub, Ann Callaway, and Maria Grenfell.

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is Ramblers & Gamblers, compiling 15 brilliant artists for 2023. Stars Sunny War, Lankum, Lisa O’Neill, Jim Ghedi, Meg Baird, Angeline Morrison, Julie Byrne, Angel Bat Dawid and more.