"Pamela Thorby's sensual recorder playing, complete with improvised flourishes and infinitely flexible dynamic shadings, is out of the top drawer." Music Week
"A wonderful artist at her very best: relaxed, stylish, unpredictable and distinctive of tone." Independent on Sunday
Following her successful collaborations with Richard Egarr and Andrew Lawrence-King world-famous recorder player Pamela Thorby teams up with renowned lutenist Elizabeth Kenny for her fourth solo album on Linn, ‘The Nightingale and the Butterfly’, a sparkling exploration of French Baroque music.
‘The Nightingale and the Butterfly’ presents a fine example of Pamela Thorby’s award-winning trademark sound: soaring and graceful melodies played impeccably.
Elizabeth Kenny weaves the lute melodies seamlessly amongst Pamela’s recorders – the two players complementing each other effortlessly.
Thorby and Kenny, both specialists in Baroque repertoire, give a unique interpretation of these appealing works whilst uncovering the beauty of some lesser-known gems.
Pamela Thorby has established herself as one of the world’s leading recorder players. She is most regularly heard on Karl Jenkins’ fabulous Adiemus recordings making her possibly one of the most listened to recorder players in the world.
Pamela was a founding member of the multi award-winning Palladian Ensemble achieving international success with ten critically acclaimed albums.
Pamela has appeared many times as a soloist at major UK festivals and venues including Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
Elizabeth Kenny, one of the UK’s foremost lute players, performs regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort and Les Art Florissants.
“Pamela Thorby's soft, sweet, natural tone is ideally suited to the whimsical delicacies of d'Hervelois, Philidor and Dieupart...The birds and butterflies of French Baroque music are artful accomplices to Eros and Morpheus, and genial companions for summer evenings.” The Independent, 27th June 2010
“This is very much a duo recital. Kenny provides delightful theorbo solos by the 17th-century virtuoso Robert de Visée as well as enchanting accompaniments to Thorby's recorder-playing...[Thorby] produces a consistently bright, remarkably unmannered tone” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010
“Virtuoso playing and scholarly research come together in this disc of French Baroque works...Thorby's eclectic experience in Baroque, jazz and folk music is everywhere apparent in these performances, with combination of technical precision and improvisatory flair...a disc full of delights and surprises” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *****
“Kenny provides Thorby with a firm yet subtly nuanced harmonic and rhythmic support, her clean attack on each leading note balancing the louder sound of the recorder. Thorby plays with her customary vigour and agility, with generous and judiciously applied ornamentation.” International Record Review, January 2011
