Dowland: Can she excuse my wrongs? (First Booke of Songes, 1597)

The 1994 film 'Farinelli' catapulted the countertenor voice into the limelight. Nearly 20 years later, one thing is clear: countertenors are sought after by opera houses, record companies and agents more than ever. The English singer James Bowman was one of the pioneers of the countertenor repertoire: his ability to create a luscious sound with a fluid legato is ably demonstrated in his legendary recording of the aria from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, “Che faro senza Euridice”, and in “Va tacito e nascosto” from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

In the French countertenor firmament Dominique Visse stands out for his musicianship. His voice takes on a biting, slightly stinging quality in the aria from Vivaldi’s 'Montezuma'. Gérard Lesne founded Il Seminario Musicale in 1985.

Today Lesne’s expanded musical horizons include both jazz and pop recordings. The American Derek Lee Ragin, took off with his recording of the 'Farinelli' soundtrack. The film’s director, Gérard Corbiau, had the bold idea of mixing Ragin’s countertenor voice with that of soprano Ewa Mallas-Godlewska, thereby creating the unique timbre of a castrato.

Andreas Scholl's excerpts from two Bach cantatas showcase his fascinating timbre as well as his sense of rhetoric and phrasing.

A brilliant new generation of counter-tenors continues to carry the torch. Foremost among them is Philippe Jaroussky; his instantly recognisable voice is of an audacious purity. Iestyn Davies, born in 1979, is a great admirer of James Bowman.

His voice combines expressive flexibility and technical agility, and these qualities stand out in his recording of an aria from Vivaldi’s 'Griselda'. The rising Korean star David DQ Lee displays robust vocal foundations and masterful breathing technique.

If further proof of the countertenors’ achievements were needed, it can be found in the fact that major opera houses now slate works with entirely male casts, bringing together up to nine countertenors! What was once just a fashion has become the cutting edge.

“Whether Scholl’s voice at all resembles that of the great original [Senesino] we cannot know, but it is wonderfully pure and moves with marvellous flexibility. He has the art of making recitative sound spontaneous and of catching the rhythmic impulse as though native to his body.” John Steane, Opera Now

Nigel North’s Dowland Lute Edition has gained him a garland of critical accolades. On this fourth and final volume, North presents a selection of dances and songs by the composer celebrated as the ‘English Orpheus’

Alpha is particularly pleased to present this first disc devoted to the lutenist Thomas Dunford.

The programme combines lute pieces by Dowland with lute songs for several voices. These songs are certainly among the most frequently recorded works of the Elizabethan era. However, the four-part polyphonic texture is generally reduced to a single voice with lute accompaniment.

The approach adopted on this disc has been to realise the songs in several voices, thus reverting to the practice, widespread at the time, of an intimate ‘chamber’ performance of these pieces.

Thus the inspired playing of Thomas Dunford is answered by exceptionally rich polyphony, with the combination of the two offering a Dowland of unprecedented colour and energy.

‘The Queen’ is a new CD by the Toronto Consort – numbering some of Canada’s leading early music specialists – which recreates musical life at the court of Elizabeth I. Many of these songs were written for or about this remarkable monarch, while others are songs that would have been performed at her court.

The Toronto Consort is Canada’s foremost chamber ensemble specialising in the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods. The consort members include both singers and instrumentalists (lute, recorder, guitar, flute, early keyboards and percussion).They have previously produced a recording for Marquis titled “Praetorius Christmas Vespers” (774718133526), as well as several CDs for the American label Dorian. Queen Elizabeth the First was an accomplished musician so it is likely that she played many of the songs featured on this album. Elizabeth was also, famously, a lover of dancing and dance music. Even as she lay dying, Elizabeth is said to have asked for music so that she might die as gaily as she lived. She heard music until her last breath.

Damien Guillon has chosen for his first solo recital disc a refined, subtle and melancholy repertoire, which he has gone on to explore in depth and polish in genuine chamber style with the lutenist Eric Bellocq, an expert in Renaissance music.

Eric Bellocq plays a liuto forte from André Burguete’s conception, an instrument which enables the player to develop a larger sound possibilities creating a true dialogue with the singer and a great freedom in improvisation. Damien Guillon started at an early age as a member of child’s choir Brittany, then at the Versailles Baroque Center while studying organ and harpsichord. In 2004, he was admitted to the countertenor Andreas Scholl’s class at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis… He was soon spotted by such well-known conductors as Jordi Savall, Vincent Dumestre, Hervé Niquet, Jérôme Correas, Philippe Pierlot, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Christophe Rousset, William Christie, and Philippe Herreweghe. He has founded his own ensemble, Le Banquet Céleste, with which he has performed at Les Nuits Musicales d’Uzès and the Froville Festival. Their repertoire includes Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and the cantatas for alto and obbligato organ of J. S. Bach, which will be Damien Guillon’s next recording project on Zig-Zag Territoires.