David Willcocks - George Frideric Handel: L'Allegro ed il Penseroso; Ode for St Cecilias Day (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 760 Mb | Total time: 73:51+76:49 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Decca | # 460 287-2 | Recorded: 1960, 1967
'L'Allegro il penseroso ed il moderato' brings together Sir David Willcocks, some fluent chamber players and the illustrious tenor Peter Pears - not the most orthodox of Handel interpreters in an era of so-called authentic performance, but here appropriately sonorous. The greater feast, however, is the 'Ode for St Cecelia', whose spiritual patronage of the sonic arts first really took off in the seventeenth century and has not looked back since. April Cantelo and Choir of King's College Cambridge offer an inspired and inspiring account of a rich, celebratory and gorgeously double-rhythmed delight.