Emma Shap

Setting various German and Latin texts for solo voices, violins and continuo, these sacred cantatas are typical products of the late 17th century in their pragmatic approach to form.
Here are patchworks such as Jesu dulcis memoria and Salve, Jesu, Patris gnate unigenite; chorale or song variations such as Jesu, meine Freude; and others, like Ich halte es dafür and Ich habe Lustabzuscheiden, which combine the two. CantateDomino is liltingly Italianate, Mein Herz ist bereit is an agile showpiece for solo bass, while Herr, wennich nur dich hab is a set of variations over a ground bass. The Purcell Quartet's essential string sound has always been sweet, airy and lucid, and it's interesting to hear how that has been transferred here from the instrumental sphere to the vocal.

Franco Alfano was a major musician and teacher who enjoyed considerable success with his operas during his lifetime, but who has been overlooked for decades. Generally regarded as the regenerator of the Italian art song, the works featured in this album offer a generous overview of Alfano’s vocal output, from his Opus 1 Cinq mélodies, written in 1896 when he was a twenty-one-year-old student at Leipzig, to Due liriche per canto, violoncello e pianoforte from 1949, five years before his death.

Initially enjoying popularity first in Germany-speaking lands and then in France, the genre of the piano duet (four hands, one piano) went on to blossom in England during the 20th century. On this album Emma Abbate and Julian Perkins present the complete works for piano duet by each of the composers selected. Palm Court Waltz, the Sonatina and Theme and Variations from Lennox Berkeley display Gallic traits, the consequence no doubt of his studies in France and his keen interest in the music of Satie, Ravel and Poulenc. While showing an evolution in the composer’s approach to tonality, every hint of seriousness is constantly balanced by elegant playfulness and diaphanous textures.

John Dowland and his music are closely associated with the Elizabethan cultivation of melancholy, an aesthetic conceit expressed in poetry and songs of the period. Even Dowland's personal motto Semper Dowland, semper dolens suggests the practiced air of sadness and suffering that colors his music.

Former Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artist baritone Ashley Riches, and rising star pianist Emma Abbate, perform a ravishing selection of previously unrecorded Shakespeare Sonnets by Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Composed after his migration to the USA in 1939, these songs contain all the wistful atmsophere of, and his obvious warmth for, his native Florence as well as his life-long obsession with William Shakespeare. Making his solo album debut with this album, Ashley Riches, along with the superbly eloquent pianist Emma Abbate, wonderfully capture the mood of each of Shakespeare's masterpieces in miniature.

A disc which will delight both Vivaldi enthusiasts and lovers of Baroque music generally. Excellent recorded sound and strongly recommended on all counts.

John Pickard is best known for his powerful orchestral and instrumental works, and his music has been widely praised for its large-scale sense of architecture and bold handling of an extended tonal idiom.