Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 5. Carco Sempre Di Gloria
Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 6a. Sei Cara
Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 6b. Un Puro Ardor
Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 6c. Sei Cara
Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 7. È Ben Degna Di Lode
Handel: Cecilia, Volgi Un Sguardo, HWV 89 - 8. Tra Amplessi Innocenti
2010
“This completes the series of recordings exploring the smaller works Handel inserted into his glorious setting of Dryden's Alexander's Feast. Robert King has previously recorded The Choice of Hercules, which was created for the 1751 revival. The tenor cantata Look down, harmonious Saint was intended as the interlude for the original run in 1736, but was rejected in favour of Cecilia, volgi un sguardo. It's a splendid idea to pair this seldom-heard Italian cantata with Dryden's sublime Ode for StCecilia's Day that Handel created to fulfil the same function three years later. This is a mouth-watering performance of Handel's colourfully gorgeous ode. 'The trumpets' loud clangour' features Crispian Steele-Perkins on fine form, flautist Rachel Brown enchants in 'The soft complaining flute', and Jonathan Cohen's cello solo in 'What passion cannot Music raise and quell!' is sweetly inspired. The King's Consort and Choir perform with perfect juxtaposition of flamboyance and taste. James Gilchrist sings with authority: he's a Handel tenor of the highest order. This recording is in a class of its own when it comes to the seemingly effortless, beautiful singing of Carolyn Sampson, now the best British early music soprano by quite some distance. She's sensitively partnered by organist Matthew Halls in the sublime 'But oh! what art can teach', which has a breathtaking poignancy. Notwithstanding many agreeable past achievements, King has seldom produced a disc of such outstanding conviction.”
“This is a mouth-watering performance of Handel’s colourfully gorgeous ode … the recording is in a class of its own when it comes to the seemingly effortless, beautiful singing of Carolyn Sampson, now the best British early music soprano by quite some distance … notwithstanding many agreeable past achievements, King has seldom produced a disc of such outstanding conviction”
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Editor's Choice
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“The underrated Fourth Concerto features the Dallas Symphony's stellar brass and winds ideally aligned, plus Hough's balletic projection of the finale's dazzling runs. No less distinct are the First Concerto' deliciously dovetailed rubatos in the first movement and the finale's perfectly gauged rhythmic definition. Overall, these live concert recordings stand out in a field jam-packed with first-rate Rachmaninov concerto cycles.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2004 ****
“Hough. Litton. Rachmaninov concertos. Hyperion. Already a mouth-watering prospect, is it not? So, like the old Fry’s Five Boys chocolate advert, does Anticipation match Realisation in these five much recorded confections? The answer is “yes” on almost every level’” Gramophone Magazine
“magnetic performances that reflect the thoughtfulness and care with which this masterly pianist approaches even the most frequently performed works, his interpretation refreshingly based on indications in the score rather than performing tradition.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition
“The Magginis are most accurate and cogent guides” Gramophone Magazine
“This first instalment of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's ambitious series of 10 Naxos Quartets indicates that it's shaping up to be quite a journey. The septuagenarian composer rises superbly to the technical challenges of the medium. The first two movements of the First Quartet evince a formal strength, expressive scope and thematic ingenuity that launch the cycle in sure-footed fashion; both attain a dramatic and emotional resolution in some arresting unison writing. The compact concluding scherzo could hardly provide a bolder contrast; its ghostly, Will-'othe- wisp dialogue will re-emerge in the Third Quartet. There are four movements in the Second Quartet, the second and third of which comprise a self-contained diptych (and the former's recitative first half harks back to No-1's Largo centrepiece). The outer movements are more expansive. An expectant Lento introduction leads to a bracing Allegro, its progress stimulating and satisfyingly proportioned. The Lento flessible finale is finer still: a memorably serene and utterly inevitable essay. The Magginis are most accurate and cogent guides, realistically recorded within the sympathetic acoustic of Potton Hall in Suffolk. A most rewarding coupling.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
“…these first two quartets certainly have a real sense of compulsion and creative urgency about their invention. …the Maggini Quartet sustains both with huge assurance; neither is easy to play technically, but every detail is there…” BBC Music Magazine, November 2004 ****
Handel: An Ode For St Cecilia's Day, HWV 76 - 01a. Overture: Larghetto, & Staccato
