FAIREST ISLE -English Song
Barbara Bonney (soprano)
with Jacob Heringman (lute) Phantasm (viol quartet) & AAM Christopher
Hogwood
Decca 466 132-2 [62
mins]
Crotchet
John
Dowland
Come again
If my complaints
Away with these self-loving lads
Flow my tears
Thomas Campion
Never weather-beaten Saile
The Sypres Curten of the Night
Thomas Morley
It was a lover and his
lasse
William Byrd
(ed. McCoy/Hunt)
O Lord, how vain are all our frail delights
John Jenkins (ed. Ashbee)
Fantasy No.9
William Byrd (ed. Gammie)
Through Amaryllis dance in green
Henry Purcell
If music be the food of love
[1st setting, 1692]
Two airs from Abdelazer
The Plaint: O, let me weep
Fairest Isle
She loves and she confesses too
Thy hand, Belinda … When I am laid in earth
A delightful sequence of English song from Byrd & Dowland to Purcell,
finding Barbara Bonney in fine voice and conveying her delight in
this (different) repertoire of favourites and rarities with sympathetic
supporting musicians. The three different accompaniments hold the interest
by introducing welcome variety. Andrew Manze provides a violin obbligato
to Purcell's moving Plaint and there are three instrumental interludes,
a Fantasy by John Jenkins (1592-1678) for viols and two Airs from Purcell's
Abdelazer given spritely renderings by Christopher Hogwood and his
Academy.
Barbara Bonney is an intelligent opera and concert singer blessed with a
lustrous voice and exceptional versatility (see
review of her recent
Mahler/Berg CD). She has a wonderful way of imparting her special knowledge
in master
classes, surprising her pupils as to their true
potential.
Peter Grahame Woolf
