Mr. Bach at Vauxhall Gardens

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These two cantatas are exquisitely beautiful music, sensuous and civilized … We’re fortunate in having two such beautifully matched sopranos as Elsie Morison and Jennifer Vyvyan … It’s a long... — Gramophone Magazine, December 1957 More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2017
Catalogue No: ELQ4825387
Label: Eloquence
Length: 79 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Bach, J C: Clavier Concerto in F, Op. 7, No. 2

Work length11:53

Thurston Dart (director), Thurston Dart (organ)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

1. Allegro con spirito

Track length5:53

2. Tempo di menuetto

Track length6:00

Bach, J C: Come, Colin

Work length2:55

Thurston Dart (director), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

Bach, J C: Would you a female heart inspire

Work length3:29

Thurston Dart (director), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

Bach, J C: Ah, why should love

Work length3:11

Thurston Dart (director), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

Bach, J C: Lovely yet ungrateful swain

Work length4:12

Thurston Dart (director), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

Bach, J C: Cease awhile

Work length5:37

Thurston Dart (director), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

Bach, J C: Sei Canzonette a Due, Op. 4

Work length13:48

Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), Elsie Morison (soprano), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Boyd Neel Orchestra
Recorded: 1956

1. "Già la notta s'avvicina"

Track length1:57

2. "Ah, rammenta, O bella Irene"

Track length2:04

3. "Pur nel sonno"

Track length2:09

4. "T'intendo si mio cor"

Track length2:39

5. "Che ciascun"

Track length1:40

6. "Ascoltami, O Clori"

Track length3:19

Scarlatti, A: Clori e Lisa - Cantata

Work length20:34

Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), Elsie Morison (soprano), Desmond Dupre (viola da gamba), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Recorded: 1957

"Lisa, del foco mio ti vo mostrar l'adore"

Track length0:58

"Sono amante: addio cara liberta"

Track length4:36

"Amica, con raggione in amorosi accenti sciogli mi fa"

Track length0:58

"Ogni imagine di bene non e bene oggi per me"

Track length4:53

"Benche rigido e il mio fato pur di lui s'appaga il cor"

Track length3:00

"Ma dimmi, Lisa mia, com'e fedele"

Track length1:02

"Benche schernito....Benche tradito"

Track length5:07

Scarlatti, A: Floro e Tirsi - Cantata

Work length13:35

Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), Elsie Morison (soprano), Desmond Dupre (viola da gamba), Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Recorded: 1957

"Ahi, che sarà di me?"

Track length1:13

"Fugge sempre Dorinda mia bella"

Track length3:01

"Armando, penando...Ahi, che sarà di me?"

Track length1:02

"Se no vuol risanar le mie pene"

Track length3:06

"Ah' fato beato! O lagrime catese"

Track length1:12

"Tirsi, che sara di me?"

Track length1:11

"Così pietate in van ricerca il core"

Track length2:50

About
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About

The soprano Jennifer Vyvyan was taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London by Roy Henderson, coach of Kathleen Ferrier. With Henderson’s help she formed a secure technique, and quickly won acclaim for both operatic and oratorio roles in a wide variety of repertoire. Best known now as a singer favoured by Benjamin Britten, Vyvyan was also a leading figure in the revival of Baroque repertory: a celebrated interpreter of Purcell, Rameau, Bach and Handel who starred in landmark 1950s/60s reappraisals of the Handel operas at Sadlers Wells, Covent Garden and elsewhere.

Both the fluency and the brilliance of her voice are on display in songs by Johann Christian Bach and cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti. J.C. Bach was writing for the open-air concerts at Vauxhall Gardens in London from which the original album and this reissue take their title. The Vauxhall songs are mellifluous, imbued with easy charm and written for accompaniment on keyboard: a part taken on this 1956 album by Thurston Dart, who as a scholar, conductor and virtuosic instrumentalist played a still more significant role in the early music revival in postwar Britain.

Dart is the soloist in J.C. Bach’s F major keyboard concerto Op. 7 No. 2. The Italianate allure of the concerto is shared by six canzonettas in which he accompanies Vyvyan and Elsie Morison. In turn the canzonettas make a stylistic link back to a pair of pastoral cantatas by Scarlatti recorded the following year, full of disporting nymphs and lovelorn shepherds. ‘Beautifully matched […] in intelligence as well as vocal colour’ was Gramophone’s verdict (December 1957) on the pairing of Vyvyan and Morison in these miniature unstaged operas. To which one could add an impassioned intensity – not least in their penultimate duet ‘Ah’ fato beato!’ – and dramatic flair that confirm both sopranos as true stage animals.

Reviews

December 1957

These two cantatas are exquisitely beautiful music, sensuous and civilized … We’re fortunate in having two such beautifully matched sopranos as Elsie Morison and Jennifer Vyvyan … It’s a long time since I have heard such consummately seductive singing.

November 1956

These duets are not only lovely songs, but they are most beautifully sung by Jennifer Vyvyan and Elsie Morison. The Vauxhall songs are also lovely and also well sung … This is indeed a record of outstanding quality in every way, and I strongly recommend it.

Mr. Bach at Vauxhall Gardens

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