Janet Lewis

En 1625, la péninsule continentale danoise du Jutland est ébranlée lorsqu'un pasteur apprécié de sa communauté, Sören Qvist, est jugé pour le meurtre de Neils Bruus. Bien que la plupart le croient innocent, les preuves contre Sören s'accumulent et les tentatives de ses proches pour l'innocenter sont vaines. Vingt ans plus tard, un homme affirmant être Neils arrive en ville. …

The first pleasant surprise here is the brightness and clarity of the radio broadcast sound; indeed, it is a bit too bright and harsh but better that than muddiness. There is evidently an audience who applaud at the end but otherwise there is no extraneous noise throughout. Secondly, there is the spring and bounce of the English Chamber Orchestra, alertly directed by Baroque specialist Sir Anthony Lewis. Thirdly we hear a first rate cast of splendid voices headed by Janet Baker, an array of voices unequalled in any of the other nine extant recordings.

For decades there has been only one recording of Admeto available: a quite splendid performance from 1977 (Virgin Records 5613692) directed by Alan Curtis with Il complesso barocco. One of the first baroque operas to be recorded with original instruments, it reflects the best of the historical performance movement. It is thus with considerable anticipation and curiosity that one approaches this new release of Handel’s Admeto, sung in English (to a fine translation by Geoffrey Dunn), directed by Sir Anthony Lewis, and recorded just nine years earlier in 1968. The cast for this recording is no less remarkable. Dame Janet Baker plays the self-sacrificing Alcestis; Admetus is sung elegantly and expressively by Maureen Lehane; Sheila Armstong is a brilliant and stylish Antigona, and the mezzo soprano Margaret Lensky provides a touching portrayal of the lovesick Thrasymedes.

Number Ones - released as The Best in some territories outside the U.S. – replaces Design of a Decade, released 14 years prior. Excepting the new song "Make Me" (hard neo-disco/funk excellence), each song here was indeed a number one hit on Billboard's various charts, though "Got 'Til It's Gone" sneaks through a side door via the Japanese charts. One number one, oddly, is missing: "So Excited," a perfectly fine 2006 single that topped the club chart. This set is more thorough with 1986-1996, too, adding Herb Alpert's "Diamonds" (which would not have been out of place on Control, given Jam & Lewis' production and Janet's precedence over Alpert's trumpet), as well as "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (with Luther Vandross), all the smashes off janet., and "Scream" (with her brother).