Building a Library, Baroque (era)
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Purcell: The Fairy Queen, 1692
RecommendedCarolyn Sampson (soprano), Anna Dennis (soprano), Mhairi Lawson (soprano), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), Roderick Williams (baritone), Gabrieli, Paul McCreesh
McCreesh’s production rises to the occasion: original voicing, unorthodox continuo, project-specific trumpet design and rediscovered string techniques bring out qualities missing from earlier... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th April 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2020, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, Opera Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Opera
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Building a Library, February 2023, Recommended Recording
2 CDs
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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas RecommendedJanet Baker (Dido), Raimund Herincx (Aeneas), Patricia Clark (Belinda), Monica Sinclair (Sorceress)
English Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Singers, Anthony Lewis
Listening to Janet Baker as Dido in her celebrated recording made at the dawn of her career, in 1962, still leaves one breathless with admiration and moved to the core by her combination of... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2001, Mid-Price Choice
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1960s
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Building a Library, November 2019, Also Recommended
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Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z629 RecommendedAnn Murray, Lorna Anderson, Gillian Fisher, John Mark Ainsley, Michael Chance, Richard Suart, Ian Partridge, Michael George
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
The Fairy Queen hardly an 'opera' in the conventional sense: its musical virtues lie in the composer's uncanny ability to summon a discrete, potent atmosphere whose capacity to move the listener... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2011, First Choice (CD)
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Building a Library, February 2023, Also Recommended
2 CDs
Original price ($20.50) Reduced price $15.50Downloads
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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
RecommendedSarah Connolly (Dido), Gerald Finley (Aeneas), Lucy Crowe (Belinda), Patricia Bardon (Sorceress), William Purefoy (Spirit), Sarah Tynan (2nd Woman), John Mark Ainsley (Sailor), Carys Lane & Rebecca Outram (Witches)
Choir & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Steven Devine and Elizabeth...
This new Dido… enshrines Connolly as one of the most affecting Carthaginian Queens since Janet Baker's account nearly half a century ago. From the outset, Connolly exudes imposing presence,... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd February 2009
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2009, Editor's Choice
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Building a Library, November 2019, Recommended Recording
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Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z629
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Juno/Mystery), Claire Debono (Spring/First Fairy), Anna Devin (Second Fairy), Helen-Jane Howells (Eve), Carolyn Sampson (Night), Robert Burt (Mopsa), Sean Clayton (Summer), Ed Lyon (Secrecy/Adam), Adrian Ward (Autumn), Lukas Kargl (Phœbus), Desmond Barrit (Drunken Poet), Andrew Foster-Williams...
Jonathan Kent's joyous Glyndebourne production burst[s] with opulent stagecraft...Kent is abetted by William Christie in the pit, a man of the theatre down to his gainfully-employed fingertips...Altogether... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2011, First Choice (Blu-ray)
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2010, DVD Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2010, DVD of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2010, Winner - DVD Performance
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2011, DVD of the Year
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Victorious Love - Songs by Henry Purcell RecommendedCarolyn Sampson (soprano), Laurence Cummings (harpsichord & spinet), Elizabeth Kenny (archlute / theorbo), Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol), Sarah Sexton (violin I), Andrea Morris (violin II) & Jane Rogers (viola)
Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism — More…
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Building a Library, February 2014, Top Recital Recommendation
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2007, Editor's Choice
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Handel: Tamerlano
RecommendedXavier Sabata (Tamerlano), Max Emanuel Cencic (Andronico), John Mark Ainsley (Bajazet), Karina Gauvin (Asteria), Ruxandra Donose (Irene), Pavel Kudinov (Leone)
Il Pomo d’Oro, Riccardo Minasi
The cast is of exceptional and even strength...[Sabata and Cencic] deliver brilliant tone and lively fioritura, while the scenes between Sabata and Ainsley crackle with fury...An all-round outstanding... — More…
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2014, Disc of the month
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2014, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Building a Library, January 2021, Recommended Recording
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Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z629
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Juno/Mystery), Claire Debono (Spring/First Fairy), Anna Devin (Second Fairy), Helen-Jane Howells (Eve), Carolyn Sampson (Night), Robert Burt (Mopsa), Sean Clayton (Summer), Ed Lyon (Secrecy/Adam), Adrian Ward (Autumn), Lukas Kargl (Phœbus), Desmond Barrit (Drunken Poet), Andrew Foster-Williams...
Jonathan Kent's joyous Glyndebourne production burst[s] with opulent stagecraft...Kent is abetted by William Christie in the pit, a man of the theatre down to his gainfully-employed fingertips...Altogether... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, September 2011, First Choice (DVD)
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BBC Music Magazine, November 2010, DVD Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2010, DVD of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2010, Winner - DVD Performance
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2011, DVD of the Year
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Purcell: King Arthur, Z628
RecommendedVéronique Gens, Claron McFadden, Susannah Waters, Mark Padmore, Iain Paton & Jonathan Best
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
If the co-operation with John Dryden led to a unity of vision in terms of music's expressive role in the overall drama, Purcell was limited to a historical patriotic fantasy with little room... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1995, Winner - Early Opera
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Building a Library, October 2018, Recommended Recording
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Handel: Acis and Galatea
RecommendedSusan Hamilton, Nicholas Mulroy, Thomas Hobbs, Nicholas Hurndall Smith & Matthew Brook
Dunedin Consort & Players, John Butt
The chief strength of this account lied in the excellent instrumental playing (the recorders that form the 'warbling choir' addressed in Galatea's first aria are sheer magic)… — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, July 2009, First Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2009, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2009, Disc of the Month
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