Suzie Quettro

1970s-inspired folk-pop songwriter Suzie Brown has chased her unique muse for a decade, making modern-day roots music that nods to the soul singers, heartland rockers, and blues artists who came before her. Gluing the sound together is the unforced voice and honest, autobiographical songwriting of a Renaissance woman: musician, cardiologist and mother…

This compilation of Handel performances by soprano Suzie LeBlanc, drawn from three previously released recordings made between 2001 and 2003, serves as an excellent introduction to this fine singer and stands on its own as a thoughtfully programmed recital. The opening "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo shows her clear voice and (thankfully) unaffected style, the emotion captured just right, the phrasing eloquent, the control giving no hint of effort. And this holds true throughout every selection, whether in the six-movement, recently discovered Gloria in excelsis Deo (her impassioned "Qui tollis" is a highlight) or in the more virtuosic rapid runs, lightning-quick turns, and subtle ornaments of "Da Tempeste" from Giulio Cesare.

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.

Suzie LeBlanc joins La Nef under the direction of Alexander Weimann to recreate Renaissance Music as it was heard and presented in Rome at the Barberini’ Palace . The Barberinis surrounded themselves with illustrious thinkers, musicians, artists, and poets, and formed an extended papal family which shared artworks, silver and servants.

Is there a subgroup of works among the creations of top composers that has been more neglected than Mozart's songs? They're neglected partly because they're a very mixed bag; they were mostly composed for specific purposes, and they don't develop as a group in an orderly way as do, say, the piano concertos. At any rate, any new recording of Mozart's songs is good to have – the album title referring to "Lieder" is a bit misleading, for there are songs in French and Italian here as well as German.