Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe - Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia's Day (1998)
Artist: Collegium Vocale Gent, Philippe Herreweghe
Title: Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia's Day
Year Of Release: 1998
Label: harmonia mundi
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:12:44
Total Size: 320 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia's Day
Year Of Release: 1998
Label: harmonia mundi
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:12:44
Total Size: 320 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
01. 1. Symphony. Maestoso - Canzona. Allegro - Adagio - Allegro - Grave (00:09:43)
02. 2. "Hail! Bright Cecilia!" (00:03:47)
03. 3. "Hark! hark! Each Tree" (00:04:10)
04. 4. "'Tis Nature's Voice" (00:04:20)
05. 5. "Soul of the World!" (00:02:20)
06. 6. "Thou tun'st this World" (00:05:14)
07. 7. "With that sublime Celestial Lay" (00:03:15)
08. 8. "Wondrous Machine!" (00:02:27)
09. 9. "The airy Violin" (00:01:38)
10. 10. "In vain the Am'rous flute" (00:06:09)
11. 11. "The fife and all the Harmony of War" (00:03:18)
12. 12. "Let these among themselves contest" (00:03:10)
13. 13. "Hail! Bright Cecilia" (00:04:41)
14. 1. Symphony (00:03:42)
15. 2. "Welcome to all the pleasures" (00:01:49)
16. 3. "Here the deities approve" (00:04:36)
17. 4. "While joys celestial" (00:01:48)
18. 5. "Then lift up your voices" (00:02:09)
19. 6. "Beauty thou scene of love" (00:03:15)
20. 7. "In a consort of voices" (00:01:13)
Total length: 01:12:44
Label: harmonia mundi
Performers:
Susan Hamilton & Siri Thornhill
Collegium Vocale & Collegium Vocale Orchestra
Philippe Herreweghe
The two famous St Cecilian Odes reflect a remarkable polarity in the composer's creative priorities: the shorter of the two, Welcome to allthe pleasures, is a supreme amalgamation of Fishburn's words and Purcell's music, bursting with contained subtlety and enchantment. There's also a unique sense of conveying something novel, in this case an inaugural tribute on 22 November 1683, to the patron saint of music, henceforth annually celebrating 'this divine Science'.
Hail, bright Cecilia from 1692 is three times longer and explores all the startling orchestral sounds which changed English music towards something approaching a Handelian palette. It's also truly fin de siècle (some might say Newtonian) in ambition and the imagery is as breathtakingly splendid now as it was when the Victorians first revered it for its boldness and scale. Such qualities clearly animate Herreweghe and he shapes this music with rapture and precision.
The whole is infectiously fresh and never rushed. Herreweghe is sensitive to the nuances which irradiate from Purcell's colouring of words. He largely uses English voices. 'Hark! hark! each tree' boasts the versatile and effortless alto of Robin Blaze who, with the assured Peter Harvey, achieves a delightfully naturalistic lilt. One blip here is the piping soprano in 'Thou tun'st this world' (Susan Hamilton) where the voice seems technically and expressively limited.
But for beauty of sound Herreweghe is your man.
Hail, bright Cecilia from 1692 is three times longer and explores all the startling orchestral sounds which changed English music towards something approaching a Handelian palette. It's also truly fin de siècle (some might say Newtonian) in ambition and the imagery is as breathtakingly splendid now as it was when the Victorians first revered it for its boldness and scale. Such qualities clearly animate Herreweghe and he shapes this music with rapture and precision.
The whole is infectiously fresh and never rushed. Herreweghe is sensitive to the nuances which irradiate from Purcell's colouring of words. He largely uses English voices. 'Hark! hark! each tree' boasts the versatile and effortless alto of Robin Blaze who, with the assured Peter Harvey, achieves a delightfully naturalistic lilt. One blip here is the piping soprano in 'Thou tun'st this world' (Susan Hamilton) where the voice seems technically and expressively limited.
But for beauty of sound Herreweghe is your man.
