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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Handel: Song for St Cecilia’s Day
Mary Bevan (soprano) & Ed Lyon (tenor) Ludus Baroque, Richard Neville-Towle Following the widespread critical acclaim of their debut recording, 'Alexander’s Feast', Ludus Baroque brings their celebrated verve to Handel's 'Song for St Cecilia’s Day'. Coupled with his miniature cantata for tenor, 'Look down Harmonius Saint', which Handel wrote to supplement performances of 'Alexander's Feast', and with the Concerto Grosso in B flat, written in his fruitful autumn of 1739, Handel approaches the setting of this second text by John Dryden with the same extraordinary vividness of detail and metrical virtuosity as Alexander’s Feast. "What passion cannot music raise and quell?" - the answer is that it can raise and quell them all: martial, erotic, sacred … but as music had, in the beginning, been the divine principle of cosmic order, so, on the Final Day, it will be the force that dissolves the universe. “Radiant soprano Mary Bevan is in glorious form in "What passion cannot music raise and quell?", while the chorus is outstanding throughout, singing with beautiful diction and a light, springy edge. And exciting Ed Lyon confirms his place as one of Britain's top baroque tenors” The Observer, 22nd July 2012 “Every ingredient here fuses in harmony: Handel’s marvellous tunes, the young performers, John Dryden’s crisply effective words, the friendly acoustics of Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk. Memorable music, delivered without frills: that’s all you really need.” The Times, 3rd August 2012 “The opening "Ouverture" showcases the group's vivacity and verve, before the poised tenor of Ed Lyon enters in "From Harmony, from Heav'nly Harmony"” The Independent, 4th August 2012 **** “I warm to the conductor’s big-boned, exhibitionist Handel style and the youthful-sounding vigour of the choir. The basses are wonderfully resonant...Mary Bevan’s bright, tangy soprano gets the lion’s share of the solos, especially radiant in “What passion cannot music raise and quell?” and “Oh, what art can teach”” Sunday Times, 12th August 2012 “Orchestrally and chorally, it has tremendous buoyancy. Solos for flute, organ and cello are artfully phrased, while soprano Mary Bevan and tenor Ed Lyon add zest to Handel's high-arching settings of Dryden's verse.” The Independent, 26th August 2012 **** “The ode receives an orderly performance. I wish there were double the number of string-players: the sonority of only six violins is insufficiently grand for the overture's opening...The unaffected 19-strong choir outweights the slimline orchestra at times....but kudos to Delphian for the intelligent choice of cover art reflecting Dryden's first stanza discussing the creation of the universe.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012 “Ludus Baroque acquits itself admirably...with instrumental exponents stylishly playing, whether in a group or in single contributions. The choral side produces fresh sounds...Bevan and Lyon serve the music laudably. She has a clean, limpid tone, which sits well in Handel's arias, smooth but not pale, shining but not glaring...Among [Lyon's] positive points are his natural singing and enunciation, his clean articulation of rapid notes and a pleasing tone.” International Record Review, October 2012 “Ludus Baroque presents its qualities with unusual vividness in this spacious and measured performance...the whole choral and orchestral tableau is marvellously realised here in an acoustic that combines richness with presence. Superb vocal solos, too” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 ***** “a blaze of glory … The instrumental roster includes some of the UK’s leading baroque specialists and the results are every bit as elegant as one might expect in support of a responsive chorus and a pair of outstanding soloists, ...conveying Dryden’s text as though their lives depended on it.” Choir & Organ, November/December 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day, HWV76
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day
“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.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “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” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Baroque Voices 41 - Handel: A Song for Saint Cecilia's Day
Handel: | Ode for St Cecilia's Day, HWV76 |
Originally released as part of a Purcell-Handel-Haydn ‘trilogy’, this recording of A Song for Saint Cecilia's Day directed by Marc Minkowski, a recognised specialist in the Handel repertoire, is now available separately for the first time. The outstanding soloists also contribute to making this disc a reference. | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | To Saint Cecilia
2CD+Book Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre’s latest recording present three major works celebrating Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. While St Cecilia is the figure who inspired this recording, the album showcases music by three composers whose anniversary years are being celebrated in 2009: Purcell was born in 1659, while Handel and Haydn died in 1759 and 1809, respectively. The three featured works have never before been brought together on a single recording. The programme was performed earlier this year at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Barbican Centre in London, the Bozar in Brussels, and the Festspiele in Salzburg, and received an enthusiastic response from the press. The vocal cast includes five outstanding soloists: Richard Croft, Lucy Crowe, Nathalie Stutzmann, Anders J. Dahlin and Luca Tittoto. Marc Minkowski chose to record a Missa Breve version of Haydn’s Cäcilienmesse, which includes only the Kyrie and Gloria. These were composed by Haydn some years before the complete Mass was written. Minkowski decided to focus on this shorter version, and to augment it with two exceptional arias from the complete mass, ‘Et incarnatus est’ and ‘Et resurrexit’. The accompanying 134-page book includes 12 paintings and representations of Saint Cecilia by the likes of Raphael, Rubens, Mignard, Lely, De Vouez, Da Cortona and Domenichino. A deluxe edition that enhances this ambitious project. “Lucy Crowe… is a natural Purcellian, and gilds the discs' triumph: Handel's A Song for St Cecilia's Day, a thrilling encounter with Dryden unmediated. Galvanised by Minkowski exquisite detailing, the Musiciens du Louvre is on white-hot form throughout, but in the Handel, Nils Wieboldt's plangent cello sets the scene for 'What Passion' with such ear-tugging sensitivity a lesser singer than Crowe might have been utterly sidelined.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2009 ***** “...the players and singers delight in this magical music.” Sunday Times, 29th November 2009 *** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Handel - Alexander’s Feast & Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day
“Neumann's forces respond magnificently. Solo voices have a rare, natural ease. In Alexander's Feast, Simone Kermes's accompanied recitative… is breathtaking; Konstantin Wolff is thrilling in 'Revenge Timotheus cries' and terrifyingly evocative as bassoons conjure up 'a ghastly band [of ghosts]'... The clarity...27 voices, while the orchestra, similarly proportioned, is splendidly taut. In short, this recording is an outstanding contribution to the Handel anniversary celebrations.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2009 ***** “Collegium Cartusianum play with suppleness, unforced strength in extrovert numbers and sensitivity in quieter and more lyrical moments… Simone Kermes's melancholic delivery of the pitiful "He chose a mournful muse" is breathtaking… The Cologne Chamber Choir is excellent: the voices in the opening phrase of "The list'ning crowd" seem to float effortlessly... "Break his bands of sleep asunder" is sensational and the falling cadences evoking "heav'nly harmony" are beautifully balanced during the first chorus of the shorter ode.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2009 | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Handel - Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day
The “Ode on St. Cecilia's Day” was originally written in the year 1697 to a text by John Dryden (1631-1700), one of the major poets of the classical era. Cecilia was a Christian woman martyr who has become the patron saint of musicians due to her legendary musical skills. The encounter with Drydens’ Ode for Cecilia was Handel’s first contact with English poetry, and he set the words into music at a time when his success as a composer of Italian influenced operas had begun to falter. The other works featured on the disc, the Concerto for Organ No. 13 HWV 295 and the festive anthem “Zadok the Priest”, were the sort of pieces often performed by Handel himself alongside larger scale works like the Ode on St. Cecilia during his concert series. One of four Coronation Anthems that Handel composed for the coronation of George II in 1727, Zadok the Priest (HWV 258) was written by the composer to texts from the King James Bible. It has been sung at every subsequent British coronation service. Diego Fasolis studied at the Conservatory of Zurich and later with Gaston Litaize and Michael Radulescu. Since 1988 he has been conductor of the early music ensemble "I Barocchisti", with whom he has made a string of successful discs on the “Arts” label, including acclaimed recordings of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suites and Brandenburg Concertos. Featured soloists on this hybrid SACD of these two cantatas, include the renowned soprano Nancy Argenta, and the bass Klaus Mertens who has been a regular collaborator with Ton Koopman on his outstanding series of Bach recordings for the dutch label “Challenge Classics”. “The finest aspects of the ode's performance are the refined moulding of the choral phrases and the excellent playing from I Barocchisti. Fasolis achieves plenty of sympathetic tastefulness in orchestral textures… performance of the Organ Concerto No 13 is enchanting, with soloist Francesco Cera displaying fluent technique and choosing appealing registrations.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2009 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day, HWV76
Monika Frimmer (soprano), Eberhard Buchner (tenor) Halle Collegium Vocale, Halle National Theater Choir, Halle Choir, Handel Festival Orchestra, Christian Kluttig | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day, HWV76
| | | (also available to download from $6.25) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day, HWV76
| | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | |
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