Iestyn Davies

Countertenor Iestyn Davies and the viol consort Fretwork present a new recording of works for viol consort and voice, drawn from 17th Century Germany, following their critically praised 2019 album of works by Michael Nyman and Henry Purcell.

Renowned performers Iestyn Davies and Joseph Middleton perform Schubert’s tragic song-cycle Die schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Maid of the Mill).

Choral singing enjoys astonishing vitality in the United States of America. Alongside Bernstein’s prodigious Chichester Psalms, Barber’s Two Choruses, and Erb’s much-loved arrangement of Shenandoah, Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge introduce us to the colourful works of the younger generation of composers on the other side of the Atlantic. A splendid panorama of American choral music from the post-war period to the present day.

The last decade of the 20th and the first decade of the 21st centuries have produced an array of astonishingly gifted countertenors who continue to set new standards of excellence and reveal possibilities for male singers performing in the traditional range of women who haven't been heard since the days of the castrati. Iestyn Davies doesn't have the spectacular instrument of some of the most dazzling countertenors of his generation but in his more modest way, he is no less impressive. His voice is pure, without a trace of the hollow hootiness that was once characteristic so many countertenors, and is absolutely secure and full from the bottom to the top of his range.

Countertenor Iestyn Davies has kept himself busy, releasing a steady stream of albums in the early 2010s that has propelled him to the top of his field. It's easy to see why people keep snapping them up: Davies has an unusually creamy voice and a gentle touch that make the music easy to settle into. The lute songs of John Dowland demand something more than a pleasant tone, however, and on this release Davies really shows what he can do. He's aided by an ideal collaborator in lutenist Thomas Dunford, and the delicacy and intricate ensemble of the pair is remarkable.

When Michael Nyman started reinventing the English baroque back in the 1980s, one critic described the result as pump- action Purcell. This recording combines these two singular musical styles through the stunning voice of countertenor Iestyn Davies and viol consort Fretwork, serving as the bridge across three centuries. The programme combines bold harmonies, wondrous inventions, and melodies that will haunt your dreams whether from the 17th century or the 21st. Recorded following a concert tour of the programme, the release includes the premiere recording of a new commission from Michael Nyman, Music after a While based upon Purcells song, or more particularly upon its strikingly original bass-line, with its insidious rising chromatics.

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.