Purcell - Symphony while the Swans come forward | Challenge Classics CC72783

Purcell - Symphony while the Swans come forward

£13.25

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Label: Challenge Classics

Cat No: CC72783

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 1st June 2018

Contents

Artists

Johannette Zomer (soprano)
La Sfera Armoniosa

Conductor

Mike Fentross

Works

Purcell, Henry

King Arthur (The British Worthy), Z628 (excerpts)
The Fairy Queen, Z629 (excerpts)
The Indian Queen, Z630
» Air
» Hornpipe
» I attempt from love's sickness to fly in vain
The Prophetess or The History of Dioclesian, Z627 (excerpts)

Artists

Johannette Zomer (soprano)
La Sfera Armoniosa

Conductor

Mike Fentross

About

For its debut recording on Challenge Classics, La Sfera Armoniosa and its artistic director Mike Fentross have chosen orchestral music and arias from operas by Henry Purcell. Well-known baroque specialist, soprano Johannette Zomer, joins the orchestra for this live recording.

‘I was really moved when I heard my orchestra play the opening bars of the Purcell. I heard a sound that was quite different to what I knew from other presentday baroque orchestras. Was this sound closer to that of Purcell’s own orchestra, a sound that he may have had in mind when composing this wondrous music? In the very first chat I had about this project with Lidewij van der Voort, our new concertmaster, we talked about the modern adaptations that are often (and understandably) applied to baroque instruments nowadays, and about the possibility of going back to authentic strings (completely bare gut) and a 17th century bow hold (the French grip) for this Purcell project. As it happens, I’d had a similar conversation not long before that with Lidewei de Sterck, our principal oboist, about authentic reeds (scraped from the inside) and with Graham Nicholson, about 17th century trumpets (natural trumpets with no finger holes). These aspects, seemingly just details, have a major impact not just on the sound but also the way of playing and therefore on the way we interpret the music.’ – Mike Fentross

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