CD-Charts Position 11
Average Rating:

Purcell: Odes for St. Cecilia's Day - Music for Queen Mary / Taverner Consort

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, Emma Kirkby, Charles Daniels, David Thomas, John Mark Ainsley, Michael Chance, Choir & Players Taverner Consort, Roger Covey-Crump, Michael George, Simon Grant, Paul Elliott, Kevin Smith

Release Date June 08, 1999
The mind boggles when listening to Purcell. Certainly his was a genius that could vie with any great contrapuntist. It is sad that he had to go so early in his life. But then I guess we wouldn't have seen the rise and rise of Handel.

Having said that, this recording is a marvellous one, one of uncommon brilliance I might add. It does not represent a summary of his work and style, even if restricted to just his vocal music, such was the originality and fertility of his invention. But it is revealing of the enormity of his command of music. Why this composer isn't as well-known as Mozart or Bach, or yes even Handel, I will never know.

I assure all that the quality of these recordings is unrivalled. Careful attention ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 12
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Music For Queen Mary-A Celebration Of The Life And Death Of Queen Mary

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Sony

Release Date April 04, 1995
'NOW DOES THE GLORIOUS DAY APPEAR' ON THIS DISC WITH GLORIOUS SINGING!


Purcell compositions for Queen Mary span the whole of her brief reign. He provided music for her coronation, on April 11,1689; for the formal celebraton of her birthday on April 30 each year; and for her funeral, on March 5, 1695. At the coronation of William and Mary his 'I was glad' was one of 9 anthems performed during this ceremony.

Purcell, in his position as Abbey Organists has tailored the music with precision. The opening passage is in stately block chords-straightforward for the choir to co-ordinate while proceeding along the nave, and arriving in their places just in time to watch the conductor for the closing bars. Later in the service the 2nd ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 13
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Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia's Day (Hail! bright Cecilia! & Welcome to All the Pleasures)

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Harmonia Mundi Fr.

Release Date June 09, 1998
Here's how I went about purchasing this piece. I went to my local Border (book store). I was just cruising along the aisle's of classical music with no intention of buying something in particular. I decided that I needed to get something that was choral. That was the scope of it. "Buy something that's choral". Not a good way to go about getting music in a genre where one choral conductor can do a magnificent job and another a rather sub par version. However, I usually do try to look for ones which win awards from Grammaphone or the like.

I cruise along and stumble upon this CD in H. Purcell's section. Frankly, I never heard of Purcell's Hail! Bright Cecilia. Before you turn away thinking I'm some lame music student keep in mind that there are thousands of great choral ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 14
Average Rating:

Purcell: Songs & Airs / Argenta, North, Boothby, Nicholson, Toll

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Henry Purcell, Nancy Argenta, Nigel North

Release Date June 05, 2001
I have many collections of Purcell's Music. This collection stands up to them at half the price. Solid buy.

CD-Charts Position 15
Average Rating:

Gardiner Purcell Collection - Hail ! Bright Cecilia

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner, Jennifer Smith, Stephen Varcoe, Paul Elliott, Brian Gordon, Ashley Stafford, Elizabeth Wilcock

Release Date May 02, 1995
We must be living in a great time for Purcell lovers. Can there be too many good performances of a work available? This has long been the dilemma with the Beethovens and Bachs, but what a luxury to have three or four superb Purcell performances to choose from. This is my favorite of the current crop, but that's just my personal taste-- I don't think we get to hear enough of Paul Elliot's voice, which I've loved since Paul was in nappies in the David Munrow days. Lovers of the Purcellian high tenor art can now wallow in performances of "'Tis Nature's Voice," from Elliot (this one), Rogers Covey-Crump (Rooley and the Taverner Consort), Mark Padmore (Herreweghe), and Charles Daniels (McCreesh)-- each different, each absolutely breathtaking. Think about it-- it's a bit like having Derek ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 16
Average Rating:

The Art of Joan Sutherland

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Decca

Release Date March 15, 2005
This is my favorite Sutherland collection. It has so much from so many periods. The bits from The French Opera Gala are beyond belief. It is some of the best coloratura she ever did and was recorded at a great part of her career. Both the Wagner and the Mozart discs were recorded when she was close to 60, which doesn't mean that much with Sutherland. Still it would have been great to have heard the Wagner recorded a decade earlier when she recorded the Turandot. She would have been better at Wagner than anyone around today. Not Nilsson or Flagstad's equal, but better by far than Voigt, who isn't bad. On the Mozart bits, a couple sound old, but the rest are as good a performance of Mozart as you are ever going to hear. Many people only like the young Sutherland, but I like the color and richness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 17
Average Rating:

Kathleen Ferrier - Mahler ~ Kindertotenlieder & Gluck ~ Greene ~ Handel ~ Mendelssohn ~ Purcell / Baillie, Moore, B. Walter

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
by: Kathleen Ferrier, Bruno Walter, Vienna Philharmonic, Isobel Baillie

Release Date March 09, 1999
This review duplicates the one written for Ferrier's Decca recording of Kindertotenlieder with the Concertgebouw in concert:

Kathleen Ferrier left so few commercial recordings that despite its scratchy, AM-radio sound, Decca was fully justified in releasing this inspired Kindertotenlieder from the Holland Festival. Sonically it can't compare with her studio recording, now refurbished on EMI, with the Vienna Phil. under her mentor Bruno Walter. But there are significant differences that can only be appreciated by hearing both versions.

The two orchestras are placed backward in both recordings, with considerable loss of inner detail. The focus is on Ferrier, who sounds darker and more sombr under Walter. Her voice is brighter and her mood less tragic for Klemperer. Contray ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 18
Average Rating:

Purcell: Theatre Music

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Decca

Release Date October 12, 2004
Imagine the stupidest, most formulaic Hollywood movies you can think of: cheesy action pictures, fluffy, unfunny comedies, big but stiff epics. Now imagine that one of the greatest living composers was working in Hollywood, turning out astonishing, hauntingly beautiful and stirring musical scores for these throwaway movies. That's what you get with this set: music Henry Purcell composed for some two dozen often utterly forgettable plays (trust me--I've read a number of them!) Occasionally, when he teams up with a playwright worthy of his stature, such as John Dryden, Aphra Behn, or William Congreve, the results are even better, but for the most part you can enjoy the music here without knowing anything about the original plays.

This set originally appeared as separate LPs in the 70s and 80s, and has ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 19
Average Rating:

The Voice of the Century

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: Decca

Release Date January 09, 2007
For the true opera fan, this is an essential recording. Sutherland's coloratura soprano technique continues to be unmatched. She flies into the rafters with ease and her cadenzas are beyond belief. Playing this recording always makes me happy....I could listen to it for hours and hours. Also, be sure to get her "Romantic French Arias" recording which, in my opinion, is her very best.

CD-Charts Position 20
Average Rating:

Elgar: Choral Works

CD-Charts > Music > Odes
from: EMI Classics

Release Date November 21, 2006
For the true opera fan, this is an essential recording. Sutherland's coloratura soprano technique continues to be unmatched. She flies into the rafters with ease and her cadenzas are beyond belief. Playing this recording always makes me happy....I could listen to it for hours and hours. Also, be sure to get her "Romantic French Arias" recording which, in my opinion, is her very best.