Purcell: Sleep, Adam, and take thy rest, Z195 - CD

“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.” BBC Music Magazine, August 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” Financial Times, 21st April 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.” Gramophone Magazine, July 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.” Sunday Times, 25th March 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.” The Times, 19th May 2012 ****

“If you think of lute songs as secular repertory, think again...Elin Manahan Thomas and lutenist David Miller illuminate this music's subtleties, infusing their reading with warmth and intimacy...this is a lovely contribution to recorded lute song.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ****

“Manahan Thomas has as keen an ear for the music of language as for the language of music while Miller...brings to the table a highly developed understanding of dramatic and musical rhetoric...Throughout, Manahan Thomas fits the sound to the sense...whilst never allowing either diction, intonation or purity of tone to suffer.” International Record Review, December 2010

"There can be no more golden a legend than Janet Baker singing English song..." Gramophone

“'A Pageant of English Song' was Baker's first solo LP for EMI. Side 1, in which she's accompanied by Martin Isepp and Robert Spencer, is reissued on this CD. Side 2, with Gerald Moore at the piano, can be heard on a double CD on EMI. Dame Janet was at the beginning of the high summer of her career when this was recorded in 1967.
Every recital, concert appearance or opera role was an event. In the first song, Dowland's 'Come againe', each word is given the perfect weight, with beautiful touches on the repeated 'I sit, I sigh, I weep, I faint, I die'. The jolly 'Never love unlesse you can', the melancholy 'Oft have I sigh'd' and the coquettish 'Faine would I wed' each has its own 'face', Baker finding just the right expression in her voice. The Scottish songs arranged by Haydn, recorded eight years later, seem rather slight in comparison.
Nineteen of these arrangements one after another seem rather too much of a good thing.
The five Beethoven Scottish arrangements are the best part of the 1975 session. 'Fathfu' Johnnie' is a setting to place beside any great song of the same period. The recording seems to favour the instrumentalists somewhat, whereas in the 1967 selections, Baker's voice is always fresh and forward.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“this is a treasurable set” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“This CD is made up predominantly of anthems, devotional songs and a morning service (a functional, though not perfunctory, setting of the TeDeum and Jubilate) most of which disclose the range and quality of the composer's sacred oeuvre near its best. Of the two settings of I was glad, the first was, until not long ago, thought to be the work of John Blow. This full anthem more than whets our appetite with its agreeable tonal and melodic twists; when the Gloria arrives, we're assured that this is vintage Purcell by the sensitive pacing as much as an exquisite contrapuntal denouement. The earlier setting is more poignant. Opening with a string symphony in the spirit of a Locke consort, the music blossoms into a deliciously Elysian melodic fabric. Good sense is made of the overall shape and the soloists are, as ever, excellent. Beati omnes is a positive gem; this may well have been written for the composer's wedding. Of the small-scale pieces, In the black dismal dungeon is the real masterpiece; it's delivered astutely by the secure and musicianly voice of Susan Gritton.
Finally to the funeral pieces. Here we have an ominous procession from the Guild of Ancient Fifes and Drums and the first appearance of four 'flatt' trumpets – as opposed to two plus two sackbuts; the effect of this subtle timbral change makes extraordinary sense of the music, engendering a new grandeur and uncompromising clarity as would have befitted such an occasion. The vocal performances are earthy and impassioned.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“An outstanding series, full of treasures, with King varying the scale of forces he uses for each item. Often he uses one voice per part, but he regularly expands the ensemble with the King's Consort Choir or turns to the full New College Choir, which includes trebles. The individual discs are no longer available separately, but all 11 CDs come neatly packaged in cardboard sleeves.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition