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Purcell, Henry (1659–95) Plainte – O, Let Me Weep (from The Fairy Queen, Z629) If music be the food of love, Z379 I attempt from love’s sickness to fly in vain (from The Indian Queen) Fairest Isle (from King Arthur) Sweeter than Roses (from Pausanius, the Betrayer of his Country, Z585) Not all my torments can your pity move, Z400 Thrice happy lovers (An Epithalamium) An Evening Hymn ‘Now that the sun hath veiled his light’, Z193 From Rosy Bow’rs (from Don Quixote) O lead me to some peaceful gloom (from Bonduca or The British Heroine, Z574) The History of King Richard the Second or The Sicilian Usurper: Retir’d from any mortal’s sight, Z581 Music for a while, Z583 Since from my dear Astrea’s sight (from Prophetess or The History of Dioclesian, Z627) O solitude, my sweetest choice, Z406 Review …One release from the 15 strong batch of hmGold discs can perhaps be taken as the iconic issue. This is the last recorded recital by Alfred Deller, whose long association with the label [Harmonia Mundi] towards the end of his career is charmingly traced in the (atypically personalized) accompanying booklet by the firm’s founder, Bernard Coutaz. The countertenor is even credited by Coutaz with triggering a shift in recording policy: away from organ recitals towards a wider spectrum of Renaissance and Baroque vocal music. There are also generous tributes to Deller from four eminent musical colleagues, Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rene Jacobs and Paul Elliott. The singer was 67 when he died in July 1979; just three months previously, he had recorded the present Purcell collection in Provence. Listening to it in this context is to experience a glorious sense of rediscovery. Of course, given his age, you can find the odd note that sounds pinched, the odd decoration that is turned slightly awkwardly, the occasional rather sluggish choice of tempo. The miraculous thing is that this unique voice somehow expands to fill the generous acoustic in which it is recorded, and also that all of the great Purcell favourites that he must have sung countless times – ‘Fairest Isle’ (King Arthur), ‘Music for a while’ (Oedipus), the great ‘Plaint’ from the fairy Queen, to name but three – are sung with transparent freshness and integrity, to say nothing of crystalline diction. He is backed throughout by an all-star ensemble that includes both Wieland Kuijken and William Christie. The Alleluias that end the wonderful Evening Hymn are deeply moving. –Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, May 2008 |
