Purcell: Harmonia Sacra

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Rosemary Joshua brings to these accounts all the aplomb of a Baroque diva, with her sharply etched diction, perspicuous dramatic insights and varied vocal timbres...It would be easy for Joshua... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 5th Mar 2012
Catalogue No: AP027
Label: Aparté
Length: 75 minutes

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Purcell: Tell Me, Some Pitying Angel (The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation)

Work length7:23

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: In the Black, Dismal Dungeon of Despair

Work length4:09

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: We Sing to Him, Whose Wisdom Form'd the Ear

Work length2:03

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: We sing to him, whose wisdom form'd the ear: Air in G Minor

Work length1:26

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Great God, and just (A penitential hymn)

Work length2:28

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: My song shall be alway (Psalm 89)

Work length3:06

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Ground in D Minor

Work length1:29

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Lord, what is man?, Z192

Work length5:22

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Let the Night Perish (Job's Curse)

Work length4:17

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Chaconne in G Minor

Work length2:25

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: The Night is Come (An Evening Hymn)

Work length2:32

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: With Sick and Famish'd Eyes, Z.200

Work length5:15

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: How have I stray'd

Work length3:38

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Suite in G minor

Work length8:48

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

I. Prelude

Track length1:25

II. Allemande

Track length3:31

III. Courante

Track length1:50

IV. Sarabande

Track length2:02

Purcell: My Opening Eyes are Purged (A Divine Song of the Passion of our Saviour)

Work length4:17

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: How Long, Great God (The Aspiration)

Work length3:37

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: Ground in C Minor

Work length2:30

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: Sleep, Adam, and take thy rest

Work length1:30

Rosemary Joshua, Laurence Dreyfus, Elizabeth Kenny, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Purcell: Thou wakeful shepherd that dost Israel keep (A Morning Hymn), Z198

Work length2:56

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: The Earth Trembled (On our Saviour's Passion)

Work length2:07

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

Purcell: Now that the Sun Hath Veil'd his Light (An Evening Hymn on a Ground)

Work length4:10

Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Elizabeth Kenny, Laurence Dreyfus, Rosemary Joshua

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A dream cast for selected pieces from Purcell's masterpieces.

Christophe Rousset has brought together leading experts in this field (Elizabeth Kenny and Laurence Dreyfus) around Rosemary Joshua to give us a benchmark performance. This disc is a gem and a priority of the label for the semester.

Reviews

August 2012

Rosemary Joshua brings to these accounts all the aplomb of a Baroque diva, with her sharply etched diction, perspicuous dramatic insights and varied vocal timbres...It would be easy for Joshua to steal the show, but the instrumentalists respond to her pliant vocal lines with sensitively articulated continuo playing.

21st April 2012

Purcell is not known as a composer of sacred songs. The 24 here, all scored for a single high voice, come from two volumes published in his later years, which group the work of several composers but are dominated by Purcell’s. Some are less than 30 bars long, others sound almost cantata-like. All are intimate and varied in tone. Whether they were designed to be heard in sequence like this is questionable, but [Rosemary] Joshua brings them vividly to life

July 2012

Joshua brings vocal security and textual intelligence to these works and though a slightly flighty vibrato sometimes threatens the music's intimacy, it does not get in the way of superbly realised greater dramatic truth. The continuo accompaniments are as sensitively accomplished as one would expect from such a line-up...If this is a sober disc, it is also one which reeks of Purcell's genius.

25th March 2012

For a singer who began her career in the early 1990s, Joshua sounds astonishingly fresh — Emma Kirkby-like in the purity of her sound, although she brings a wider palette of colour to this kind of music than the veteran early-music diva ever did.

19th May 2012

The word-painting of the sacred texts — involving angular leaps, florid melismas and a fluid mixture of declamation and gorgeous lyricism — is intense and detailed. Rosemary Joshua does it full justice, yet also seems to float, lithe and graceful, through it all. It’s a masterclass in delicate Baroque singing.

Purcell: Harmonia Sacra

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