Gramophone Editor’s Choice artist Matthew Wadsworth presents the first ever recording devoted entirely to Philip Rosseter’s music. A timely tribute to one of the great masters of the lute and English song, When Laura Smiles features twelve of Rosseter’s most beguiling songs, including What then is love but mourning, If she forsake me, Sweet come again as well as the title track. It also includes all of Rosseter’s surviving lute solos, including an epic chromatic fantasy, two weighty pavans and several charming dances. When Laura Smiles continues Matthew’s exploration of music by John Dowland’s contemporaries, following the critically acclaimed Away Delights with soprano Carolyn Sampson (AV 2053) featuring the music of Robert Johnson.
January 2006
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“James Gilchrist's supple, seductive tenor is well-suited to this repertoire: through the subtlest of expressive nuances and inflections, he breathes life into this arcane but charming poetry, most effectively in the sprightly title song, 'When Laura smiles'. Matthew Wadsworth holds centre stage in a selection of lute solos and... plays with emotive musicianship and sensitivity.”
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