Project Harmonia Mundi - Part 23

These four Symphonie from 1775 emerge from their performances by The English Concert sounding like the work of a forceful and original master, one perhaps out to shock with his sudden changes of direction, jagged melody lines and surprise silence, but whose expressive integrity never seems under threat. Andrew Manze, as is to be expected, revels in their extremes, not just at the local level but over wider spans too, as in the first minute of Wq183 No 4, when he rides the swell from opening nervy string unison to triumphant orchestral tutti with great aplomb.
These are performances full of life which, while not always matching the perfections of ensemble and intonation attained by some of this orchestra's top European counterparts, certainly leave a strong image of CPE Bach as a creative force. The Sequence is broken up by a cello concerto, an earlier and less forward looking work (as concerts often are), but a fine one nevertheless, with a hauntingly emotional slow movement. Soloist Alison McGillivray plays with the silver-toned elegance of some smooth-voiced tenor.

The Gramophone Classic Music Guide 2008

The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, led by Bill Ives, is joined by Rogers Covey-Crump, other distinguished soloists, and Fretwork, for a program of sacred music by Orlando Gibbons. Regarded as one of the greatest English composers of the early 17th century, Gibbons enjoyed an illustrious career at the court of King James I as a ‘Gentleman of the Chapel Royal’ and was appointed organist of Westminster Abbey two years before his untimely death in 1625. His Second Service and three of his verse anthems (This is the Record of John; Great king of Gods; See, see the Word is incarnate—recorded here with viols for the first time) are heard in new editions prepared by Dr David Skinner.

The true brilliance of Ludwig Senfl lay in song composition. He left an imposing output of some 250 secular works in a vast range of styles, moods, and genres (noble love songs, settings of folksong texts, drinking songs, hunting songs, dirty songs, joke songs). Tenor Charles Daniels join Fretwork in this varied programme of songs and consort music.