Purcell Arthur

Henry Purcell's King Arthur, or The British Worthy, occupies the small genre of English semi-operas, i.e., stage works in which the most of the main characters speak dialogue, but songs, choruses, and incidental music provide commentary on the action. This 2018 performance by Lionel Meunier and the period ensemble Vox Luminis presents King Arthur without speaking parts, so the music is continuous and complete on two CDs, and displays the variety of musical forms and effects Purcell employed to make John Dryden's somewhat confusing play – a mixture of Norse and British mythology – come to life.

This eight-disc set includes odes and theater pieces; and Gardiner's performances are more than excellent. He synthesizes the spare delicacy and ceremonial grandeur of Purcell's music in performances that are very satisfying.

The great patriotic opera of the 17th century, recorded here in a lively new performing edition after two decades in the Gabrieli’s touring repertoire. Notoriously difficult to present on disc or in concert, this version presented by Gabrieli was created to allow an obvious musical narrative, despite Purcell’s music often being completely dislocated from much of the original theatre context.

Did the world need to hear Gershwin played by a viol consort, with an occasional recorder tootling along? If so, then why not Purcell accompanied by a jazz piano? The idea of combining the two composers in one performance is an attractive one, and the mix of vocal and instrumental pieces by each composer here is intelligently grouped. Arranger and leader Jay Bernfeld offers several parallels. Both composers were, in the broadest sense, urban sensations and musical-theater composers with bigger things on their minds; both managed to complete one towering opera before dying young. He might have added more items to his list: the ground basses of Purcell's time are elaborated by their melody lines in a manner akin to, if not precisely comparable to, the structure of Gershwin's songs.

This collection puts some of the best Purcell on display–and it couldn't have a more musical or vocally accomplished advocate than Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin. Her voice is pretty for sure, but it also has richness and substance, not to mention a most endearing vibrato that adds an earnestness and enlivening tension to everything she sings.

Until the late 1680s, Henry Purcell composed almost exclusively for the royal court. But when the monarchy decided to reduce its expenditure on music in 1690, he joined the United Company, a London theatre company, and devoted himself to composing for its productions. These took varied forms, with operas such as King Arthur (1691), The Fairy Queen (1692) and The Indian Queen (1695) but also spoken plays with music, such as The Virtuous Wife (1695). It is excerpts from these works that are presented in Tyrannic Love. Compositions by Purcell’s colleagues or followers John Blow, John Eccles, Jeremiah Clarke and Daniel Purcell complete the programme.

King Arthur (1691), like Purcell’s other great scores for the stage, belongs to a highly unusual genre: it is neither a play nor an opera but a hybrid of the two known as ‘semi-opera’. Alfred Deller’s legendary 1978 recording is one of the benchmark interpretations which introduced music-lovers to Purcell’s masterpiece.

All these works were published within 18 months of Purcell's death. The 13 suites of choice movements from plays and semi-operas, entitled A Collection of Ayres, compos'd for theTheatre, and upon other occasions, may well have been the editing work of Purcell's brother, Daniel.

Music of England's greatest composer was a speciality of Alfred Deller. His artistry was particularly well suited to Purcell and Deller's role in establishing the greatness of this music cannot be exaggerated.
This collection includes iconic performances of solo vocal works with groundbreaking recordings of operas, sacred and theatrical works in which Deller performs and conducts. Being at the forefront of the re-birth of the early music movement, he naturally attracted many of the other supreme artists of the time, all of whom went on to become great figures in their own right.

Andreas Scholl returns to Decca with a recording of vocal jewels by the great baroque composer Henry Purcell, including 'When I Am Laid In Earth' from Dido and Aeneas. This is Andreas Scholl's first ever recording of the music of Purcell and his uniquely beautiful voice is perfectly suited to the English composer's plangent melodies. The album includes pieces written for the stage, the church and the private chamber, some of which Andreas Scholl has sung in recital for many years, and some he sings here for the first time.