Tag Archives: Henry Purcell

On Record: Lesley-Jane Rogers – Hommage: Tributes to Handel & Purcell (Heritage Records)

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Lesley-Jane Rogers (soprano), John Turner (recorder), Jonathan Price (cello), Jonathan Bielby (harpsichord)

Ruth Zechlin Hommage á Henry Purcell (1997); Hommage á Handel (2004)
Robin Walker Handel to his Soul (2006)
Pepusch When Love’s Soft Passion (pub. 1720)
Purcell The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation, Z196; Oedipus, Z583 (1678) – Music for a while; The Indian Queen, Z630 (1695) – I attempt from love’s sickness to fly
Telemann Cello Sonata in D major TWV41: D6 (pub. 1728-9)
Handel Nel Dolce del’Oblio, HWV134 (1709)

Heritage Records HTGCD118 [73’06”] Texts and translations included
Remastering Engineer Paul Arden-Taylor

Live performance on 14 June 2006 at Händel-Haus, Halle an der Saale

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Heritage releases what was actually a live performance, given at the original ‘Handel House’ in the composer’s hometown of Halle while featuring an imaginative miscellany of Baroque and Contemporary works, all expertly realized by soprano, recorder, cello and harpsichord.

What’s the music like?

The sub-title says it all – tributes to Handel and Purcell that range from pieces by both these composers to works which wear their ‘hommage’ credentials not a little obliquely. Purcell is heard in evergreen extracts from his incidental music to Oedipus and semi-opera The Indian Queen elegantly sung by Lesley-Jane Rogers, who renders the interplay of recitative and aria in The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation with real eloquence. Handel rounds off this programme with Nel Dolce del’Oblio (In the Sweetness of Oblivion), one of several Italian cantatas that helped establish his reputation prior to his arrival in England. Again, a fine performance that respects this music’s expressive deftness and understatement though without making it seem trite or lightweight; failings which are not so uncommon in latter-day accounts of this music.

Also featured is a cello sonata drawn from Telemann’s collection Der Getreue Musikmeister (The Faithful Music-Master), its simple alternation of Largo and Allegro movements belying the piece’s overall motivic subtlety. Interest naturally attaches to the cantata When Love’s Soft Passion by Johann Pepusch, remembered for his musical contribution to The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (and lesser-known sequel Polly) but who wrote extensively for various genres – among them the secular cantata, hence the poise and sensuous appeal of the present example.

Two of the contemporary works are by Ruth Zechlin (1926-2007), among the most prominent composers in what was East Germany, whose expertise as harpsichordist or organist informed her own works. Hommage á Henry Purcell juxtaposes recorder and harpsichord with pointed humour redolent of Mauricio Kagel, whereas Hommage á Handel comprises settings of three Shakespeare sonnets (Nos. 36, 78 and 46) with their music derived from three Handel arias to verses by Barthold Brockes. Even more engrossing is Handel to his Soul, a cantata setting his own text by Robin Walker (b.1953) who, known primarily for some seismic orchestral works (Toccata Classics TOCC0283), brings comparable insight to this thought-provoking trialogue between the composer, his soul and the goddess Proserpina – its music being witty and ironic.

Does it all work?

Yes, not least as collated into a programme which elides nimbly if meaningfully between the musical past and present. All credit to the musicians that these performances are so idiomatic across the board, thereby bringing works separated by over three centuries into enlightening accord. Whether the present release is taken from a radio broadcast or an archive recording, its sound lacks nothing in spaciousness or focus; enabling Rogers’s excellent annunciation to come through unimpeded. An occasion which was decidedly making available commercially.

Is it recommended?

It is. The booklet has decent notes and full texts (if not all English translations) – making for a worthy tribute to Percy M. Young (1912-2004), renowned music scholar and soccer historian, in whose memory this concert was sponsored by the British Professional Football Association.

Listen / Buy

You can explore purchase options at the Heritage Records website. Click on the names for more information on Lesley-Jane Rogers, John Turner, Jonathan Price, Jonathan Bielby, Ruth Zechlin, Robin Walker and the Händel-Haus

Published post no.2,914 – Thursday 11 June 2026

In concert – CBSO / Ilan Volkov: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring & Stokowski transcriptions

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City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov (above)

Frescobaldi arr Stokowski Gagliarda Seconda (1627/1934)
Purcell arr Stokowski Dido’s Lament (1689/1949)
Debussy arr Stokowski The Sunken Cathedral (1910/1930)
Mussorgsky arr Stokowski Boris Godunov: Coronation Scene (1874/1936)
J.S. Bach arr Stokowski Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV565 (c1708/1927)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (1911-13)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 3 June 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture (c) Hannah Blake-Fathers

He might not officially become Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra until next season, but Ilan Volkov – a valued collaborator over the past two decades – gave notice of his intentions with this enterprising programme of Stokowski and Stravinsky.

Stokowski, that is, in his role as an arranger often interventionist, frequently provocative while always compelling. The first four of these pieces played without break – the hieratic poise of Frescobaldi’s Gagliarda Seconda, with its layering of wind and strings, leading into Purcell’s Dido’s Lament with its soulful interplay of solo and massed strings. This sequence moved up a gear with The Sunken Cathedral, here becoming the most evocative of Debussy’s Préludes as its washes of percussion prepared for an apparition of sonorous splendour before returning to the murky depths. Volkov will hopefully schedule Stokowski’s entire Symphonic Synthesis from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov at a future concert though, for now, the Coronation Scene offered a tantalizing taster as its ringing ostinato patterns built toward a cinematic apotheosis.

It made sense to round off this sequence with Toccata and Fugue, most characteristic of the conductor’s numerous Bach reworkings and the most archetypal of all his arrangements. Its sonic opulence is balanced by an analytical acuity with the orchestral sections stratified so to bring out the motivic intricacy of its Toccata as well as the mounting impetus of its Fugue on the way to a glowering peroration. The CBSO gave its collective all in a piece that, whether or not this is actually by Bach, could not be an arrangement by anyone other than Stokowski.

Stokowski directed the American premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Philadelphia some 104 years ago and the questing zeal heard in his 1930 recording seemed no less evident in Volkov’s performance – assuredly no powerhouse conception and all the more impressive because of it. With bassoonist Nikolaj Henriques given his head in its plangent Introduction, the first part proceeded stealthily and its myriad shades of detail or expressive nuance given focus through the music’s unfolding at a consistent while unbroken pulse. Such as the innate violence in Ritual of Abduction and inexorable Ritual of the Rival Tribes were drawn into an indivisible whole whose accruing tension found release in a seismic Dance of the Earth.

If the second part emerged more episodically, this was owing more to its actual content than to any interpretative failing. Certainly the diaphanous haze of its Introduction segued with due seamlessness into Mystic Circles of the Young Girls of ominous import. Nor was there any wanton pictorialism in Ritual Action of the Ancestors, with the trenchancy at the start of the Sacrificial Dance a telling foil to the unbridled impetus which followed. Others may have drawn a purely visceral frenzy from this music, but relatively few can have channelled such impetus through to so conclusive and (strange as this sounds) satisfying a final gesture.

Impressive music-making, then, that augurs well for Volkov’s three concerts with the CBSO next season. Hopefully there will also be an opportunity for this conductor to expand on his extensive discography, as part of what should prove an arresting and productive relationship.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2025/26 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the name to read more on conductor Ilan Volkov, while you can watch him in action in a number of videos below:

Jorge E Lopez | Symphony No.4

Ilan Volkov conducts works by Schreker and Strauss – YouTube

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 – Brussels Philharmonic & Ilan Volkov – HD

Published post no.2,908 – Friday 5 June 2026

In concert – Sophie Bevan, Gareth Brynmor John, CBSO Chorus & Orchestra / Ryan Wigglesworth: Brahms: A German Requiem

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Sophie Bevan (soprano), Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), CBSO Chorus (chorus-master, David Young), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Ryan Wigglesworth

Purcell Funeral Music for Queen Mary Z860 (1695)
Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45 (1865-68)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Thursday 23 April 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Having begun five years ago in the (relative) aftermath of the pandemic, ‘CBSO Remembers’ has become a means of recalling those associated in some way with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and opportunity to schedule appropriate works with the CBSO Chorus.

This evening saw A German Requiem, Brahms’ largest and most-encompassing piece whose emotional impact is out of all proportion to its modest forces – not least compared with those settings of the Latin text by Berlioz or Verdi. Compiling his own text from the German Bible, Brahms drew attention not only to its linguistic basis but also the essentially humanist nature of its content. A work whose concern lies less with those departed than with those still living thereby conveys a message which, if not spiritually affirmative, is none the less one of hope.

The present account was nothing if not focussed on this latter quality, right from the outset of the initial ‘Blessed are they that mourn’ with its deft eliding between the ruminative and the aspiring. There was inexorable power to the fatalistic tread and fateful climaxes of ‘For all flesh is as grass’, with no lack of wistfulness in its central interlude then of joyousness in its unlikely if resolute continuation. To those earlier stages of ‘Lord, teach me’, as of ‘For here we have no abiding place’, Gareth Brynmor John conveyed earnest supplication with just a hint of strain; the ensuing fugues – energetic then defiant – retaining the requisite buoyancy thanks to a vividly incisive response by the CBSO Chorus and Ryan Wigglesworth’s astute marshalling of orchestral textures whose outward sombreness yielded a burnished richness.

In between these most dramatic movements, ‘How lovely are thy dwelling places’ unfolded as an oasis of unaffected calm, then ‘You now have sorrow’ brought a radiant response from Sophie Bevan in what was an afterthought for the work overall as well as its most personal, even confessional statement. It remained for ‘Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord’ to place the foregoing triumph in relief as it gradually retraced its musical steps toward an end of rapt acceptance; one whose understated depth characterized this performance as a whole.

At some 70 minutes the Brahms does not make a full programme on its own terms, so it was an inspired decision to preface this with Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary. Barely 15 minutes as to duration, its hieratic opening March is followed by a Canzona whose elliptical harmonies look forward almost 250 years to Tippett and which alternates with the setting of ‘Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts’ whose three stages move from stark anguish towards searching resignation: understandable, while eternally regrettable, this music should have been heard at its composer’s own funeral eight months later. A pity, too, on this occasion that the Purcell could not have elided seamlessly into the Brahms though, given the logistics when incorporating offstage brass into the onstage orchestra, this was most likely unfeasible.

More importantly, it anticipated the main work with absolute sureness. One looks forward to Wigglesworth’s future appearances with the CBSO which, next Wednesday, tackles Brahms’ Violin Concerto and then Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony alongside Stanislav Kochanovsky.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2025/26 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the names for more on soloists Sophie Bevan and Gareth Brynmor John, conductor Ryan Wigglesworth and the CBSO Chorus

Published post no.2,869 – Sunday 26 April 2026

On Record – The Peter Jacobs Anthology Volume 3 (Heritage Records)

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Peter Jacobs (piano)

Allum Nocturne in C sharp minor; Prelude No. 24 in D minor (both c.1950)
Bantock (arr. composer) Omar Khayam (1906-09) – Prelude and March
Fenney Au Printemps (pub. 1915)
MacDonald Waste of Seas (1976)
Purcell arr. Stevenson The Queen’s Dollour (pub. 1710, arr. 1958)
Simpson Variations and Finale on a Theme of Haydn (1948)
Truscott Prelude and Fugue in E flat minor; Prelude and Fugue in C major (1957)

Heritage Records HTGCD127 (67’25”)
Recorded live at London College of Music, April 1979

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Heritage continues adds to its extensive Peter Jacobs discography with this recital focussing on music by British composers mainly of the early and mid-twentieth century, each rendered with that combination of fluency and insight which this pianist brings to all his performances.

What’s the music like?

According to his booklet note, Jacobs gave this recital at an Annual General Meeting for the Havergal Brian Society in 1979, though the present writer remembers a pretty much identical programme being given at this event in 1982. The seeming unavailability of works by Brian (Four Miniatures then Prelude and Fugue in C minor) played on this occasion is regrettable, but these are easily available elsewhere while the recital’s purpose in drawing together music by various of Brian’s contemporaries, colleagues or advocates remains essentially unchanged.

Granville Bantock’s choral epic Omar Khayam has numerous excerpts worthy of autonomous status – not least its evocative Prelude and quizzical March. Apparently written in a weekend, Harold Truscott’s brace of Preludes and Fugues – that in E flat minor as methodical as that in C is impetuous – makes one regret he did not attempt a complete cycle. An amateur composer in the most professional sense, Walter Allum’s piano music wears its indebtedness to Chopin but deftly – witness his intricately designed Nocturne or Prelude in D minor which brings to a vividly decisive end a cycle likely worth hearing in its entirety. William J. Fenney enjoyed a modest reputation just after the First World War with Au Printemps (also known as ‘In Early Spring’) a trilogy the more affecting in its emotional restraint – ‘light’ music but never facile.

Forward to what was then the present, Malcolm MacDonald’s Waste of Seas (also known as Hebridean Prelude) sustaining a plangent atmosphere and of a pianistic resourcefulness to suggest his modest output as worth further investigation. A relatively early work, Variations and Finale on a Theme of Haydn has Robert Simpson drawing a wide but integrated range of moods from the innocuous Minuet of Haydn’s 47th Symphony (its palindromic aspect more intensively mined in Simpson’s Ninth Quartet), prior to an extended final section more akin to the iconoclastic fugal writing in late Beethoven. Such exhilaration needs a brief touchdown such as Jacobs supplies in Ronald Stevenson’s lucid take on one of Purcell’s most poignant inspirations; a reminder the former is often at his most creative in the realm of transcription.

Does it all work?

Indeed so, not least when those pieces by Bantock, Allum, Fenney and MacDonald have yet to receive commercial recordings. Jacobs himself has recorded the Truscott (Heritage) while there are studio accounts of the Simpson by Raymond Clarke (Hyperion) and of the Purcell/ Stevenson transcription from Murray McLachlan (Divine Art) or Christopher Guild (Toccata Classics). To hear these works in close proximity and so perceptively realized is, of course, its own justification and no one interested in this music need hesitate to acquire this release.

Is it recommended? Very much so. Whatever its provenance, the recording sounds entirely satisfactory thanks to Heritage’s expert remastering and one only hopes further such releases from Peter Jacobs’s doubtless extensive archive will be possible. This latest anthology is warmly recommended.

Listen / Buy

You can hear excerpts from the anthology at the Presto Music website, and explore purchase options at the Heritage Records website. Click on the composer names to read more about Robert Simpson, Ronald Stevenson and Harold Truscott

Published post no.2,761 – Thursday 8 January 2026

In Concert – Martin Fröst, Roland Pöntinen & Sébastien Dubé @ Wigmore Hall: Night Passages – A Musical Mosaic

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Martin Fröst (clarinet), Roland Pöntinen (piano), Sébastien Dubé (double bass)

Debussy Première rhapsodie (1909-10)
Chausson Andante and Allegro (1881)
Poulenc Sonata for clarinet and piano (1962)
Night Passages – A musical mosaic (with arrangements by the performers)
Domenico Scarlatti Sonata in D minor Kk32
Chick Corea Children’s Song no.15 (1978)
Rameau Les Indes galantes: Air pour les Sauvages (1735-6)
Purcell Incidental music for Oedipus, King of Thebes Z583: Music for a while (1692)
J.S. Bach Sinfonia no15 in B minor BWV801 (c1720)
Chick Corea Armando’s Rumba (1976)
Purcell Hornpipe in E minor Z685
Handel Menuet in G minor (1733)
Traditional Polska från Dorotea
Göran Fröst Klezmer Dance no.2 (2011)

Wigmore Hall, London
Wednesday 21 December 2022

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

In 2019, Arcana was at the Wigmore Hall to see Martin Fröst and Roland Pöntinen give a concert of largely French music for clarinet and piano. Their encore hinted at an intriguing sequence of arrangements exploring connections between classical music and jazz. Three years on, that sequence has grown in stature, realised in recorded form as the Sony Classical album Night Passages, and given meaningful content by personal and world events.

Through lockdown, Fröst experienced intense bouts of Ménière’s disease, whose symptoms include unexpectedly severe bouts of vertigo and tinnitus. The clarinettist experienced one such bout while driving his car, which he thankfully negotiated without injury, but which bred a number of accompanying fever dreams. Expressed in the program notes, they lent a vivid written complement to the music.

Since 2019 the double bass of Sébastien Dubé has been added to the instrumental thinking, an essential musical component taking the arrangement style towards Jacques Loussier without ever resorting to parody. Unexpectedly, the group’s colourful arrangements did not always include the piano, allowing Fröst and Dubé the chance to explore the rewarding combination of clarinet and double bass through imaginative techniques and compelling improvisation.

The course of Night Passages led from a solemn sonata by Domenico Scarlatti to a Klezmer dance from Fröst’s brother Göran, by way of arrangements exploring the versatility of Baroque music. These were matched by jazz-inflected work from Chick Corea, with Armando’s Rumba presenting some vibrant syncopations, along with a celebration of the Swedish polska.

Frost’s artistry was almost beyond criticism, the clarinettist able to make even the most demanding technical passages appear nothing more than a walk in the park, airily improvising or running through sharply edged cadenzas. Dubé was no less impressive, and a remarkably wide range of colours issued from the double bass, whether bowed or plucked. His chemistry with Fröst was compelling, and the occasional use of vocals added to the mix. Roland Pöntinen also made the most of his chances to shine, providing the rhythmic verve to the dances but also a welcome, cleansing clarity which ran through the Baroque arrangements, tastefully and affectionately realised.

Prior to the interval we heard three short pieces by French composers for clarinet and piano. Debussy’s Première rhapsodie tells its story through a set of contrasting thoughts, initially set out in a humid atmosphere but becoming more outward facing as it gains in confidence. Fröst and Pöntinen had its many twists and turns instinctively under their fingers, finishing each other’s sentences as they did in the romantic, lyrical writing of Chausson’s Andante and Allegro, played with evident affection.

Yet it was Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet and piano, completed in the year before his death, that made the most lasting impression. What a profound work this is, paying tribute to his friend and fellow composer Arthur Honegger. The slow movement holds the emotional centre of the work, with melancholy on occasion spilling over into outright sadness. Fröst’s quieter asides encouraged the audience to lean closer to the music, but these intimate thoughts were swept away by the exuberant finale, throwing caution to the winds. Fröst and Pöntinen played with great feeling throughout, typifying the approach of a concert that may not have been generous in length but which amply compensated through musical quality.