Recorded live before
a very quiet audience – we really only
hear them as they applaud at the end
– this is an Anglo-Italian production
that fuses the original instrument band
Accademia Bizantina with some prominent
British soloists. The results, whatever
slight reservations there may be, are
consistently enjoyable. The band under
Ottavio Dantone shape their lines with
vigour and colour. The Rondeau from
the Second Music of the First Act is
a particular example of a general rule.
Their decorations have been well thought
through. There’s an earthiness and sense
of theatrical engagement that are vital
for full appreciation of Purcell’s semi-opera.
There is much to admire:
the Drunken Poet scene where the band
anticipates Michael Bundy’s drunk in
the strings’ shudder, or else the arch
lute’s role in Act II’s Come, all
ye songsters. But it’s probably
in moments such as the Interlude from
Act II where we really get the full
measure of the band’s vivacity – two
solo fiddles, fluttering, employing
a fine array of tasteful and stylistically
apposite ornaments and trills. The brass
manage the Echo scene well whilst the
percussion is crisp. Stand-out soprano
Carolyn Sampson meanwhile does her burgeoning
career no harm in this 2001 recording
– colouring softly with perfect understanding
in her Act III aria Ye Gentle Spirits
of the Air and rising to the heights
with her great plaint O let me ever,
ever weep in the Fifth Act.
Anthony Carwood is
a pleasing choice for tenor soloist;
highly experienced of course in this
kind of repertoire he brings a fine,
light, lyric tenor to his role, and
gives See my many colour’d
fields a really good and felicitous
kick. We also have some luxury casting
in Soprano I, Gillian Keith, who takes
her small roles with elegance and tonal
beauty – as well as Rebecca Outram.
As ever, supporting them, the band proves
to be well conversant with pictorialism
and energising rhythm. The Chorus, the
New English Voices, sound very well
rehearsed; sectional discipline is tight
but generous. Above all, the character
and humour of the semi-opera are brought
out quite unselfconsciously and with
real affection. It’s a most attractive
set. The competition of course is strong.
Gardiner (from 1987) is still a front-runner;
Harnoncourt (Teldec) has Sylvia McNair
whilst Harry Christophers (Coro) has
the hilarious, chart-topping duo of
Michael Chance and Michael George. Each
set has some special virtue and if my
choice is Gardiner it’s a very close-run
thing. Christophers will do just as
well though McNair is very special.
But this entrant has strong and lasting
virtues of its own and is recommended
on merit.
Jonathan Woolf
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Carolyn Sampson (soprano) 
