Purcell’s Revenge: Sweeter than Roses?
Olivia Chaney (soprano), James Bowman (countertenor), Ana Silvera (soprano), Jim Moray (tenor)
Concerto Caledonia, David McGuinness
Purcell’s Revenge: Sweeter than Roses?
Olivia Chaney (soprano), James Bowman (countertenor), Ana Silvera (soprano), Jim Moray (tenor)
Concerto Caledonia, David McGuinness
Purchase product
the mixture of instruments works, played mostly by top-rate early musicians.
About
Delving into the past is never a simple matter for David McGuinness and his indomitable early-music-meets-nu-folk group Concerto Caledonia. But the present venture, even more than most, eludes verbal description. The group return – in the company of some starry guest names – to the territory of their 2011 Britten tribute 'Revenge of the Folksingers', now engaging with music by Henry Purcell in a tapestry of arrangements and creative responses which is never less than surprising. Variations by 18th-century Scot James Oswald rub shoulders with the Purcell tunes they are based on, while original songs by Olivia Chaney and Ana Silvera and some literally electrifying instrumental contributions add to the general air of expectations confounded!
Contents and tracklist
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Olivia Chaney (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Ana Silvera (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- James Bowman (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Jim Moray (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Olivia Chaney (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Olivia Chaney (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Olivia Chaney (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Ana Silvera (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
- Jim Moray (vocals)
- Concerto Caledonia
- David McGuinness
Awards and reviews
Early Music Review April 2015
the mixture of instruments works, played mostly by top-rate early musicians.
July 2015
for all the riff-like charms of their ground basses, Purcell's songs have proved surprisingly resistant to reinvention...So to say that Concerto Caledonia's album veers between maddening and utterly joyous is to put them well ahead of the curve.
14th March 2015
Hate it or love it (and it will divide listeners) this CD is certainly a different take on Purcell, presenting some of his most famous dances and vocal pieces in versions that emphasise folk roots and folk styles of playing and singing...Invigorating and controversial.