Elegy - Countertenor duets by Purcell & Blow - Iestyn Davies & The King's Consort

Recorded live during recording sessions in January 2019, renowned British countertenor Iestyn Davies and conductor Robert King provide fascinating background to “Elegy”, a new recording by Iestyn Davies and The King’s Consort of countertenor duets and solos by Henry Purcell and John Blow. The recording also features rising star countertenor James Hall, who partners Iestyn in the duets.
This beautifully themed programme concludes with Blow’s magnificent ‘Ode on the death of Purcell’. Rarely heard together on one recording are a set of three substantial elegies composed by Purcell and Blow to commemorate the untimely death of the much-loved Queen Mary. Two of these ingeniously take the same text, one in English (Blow’s ‘No, Lesbia, you ask in vain’), the other in Latin (Purcell’s ‘Incassum lesbia’): the third is the ravishing duet ‘O dive custos’. Another highlight is Iestyn’s seraphic rendition of the melancholy masterpiece, ‘O solitude’. Around these come duets both famous and less familiar, including ‘Hark how the songsters’, Blow’s glorious ‘Ah, heav’n, what is’t I hear?’, the deliciously languid ‘In vain the am’rous flute’ and, of course, ‘Sound the trumpet’.
The death in 1694 of Queen Mary, which spurred London’s two leading composers into doleful elegiac action, was soon to be followed by a greater musical calamity: the loss of Henry Purcell. John Blow’s outstanding ‘Ode on the death of Mr Henry Purcell’ is not only a heartfelt tribute to his colleague, but one of the most outstanding English works of the era.
Iestyn Davies shows himself to be a true master of this repertoire, beautifully partnered by James Hall and by an ensemble which has dominated the world of Purcell recordings for more than thirty years.
The recording was made in the world-class recording hall, Alpheton New Maltings, demonstrating its exceptional acoustic of striking clarity and warmth.
REPERTOIRE
Purcell: Hark how the songsters
Purcell: In vain the am'rous flute
Purcell: O solitude, my sweetest choice
Purcell: Chaconne from Dioclesian
Blow: Ah heav'n, what is't I hear?
Purcell: Sound the trumpet
Purcell: Since the toils and the hazards of war
Purcell: Sing, sing, ye druids
Blow: Paratum cor meum
Purcell: Incassum Lesbia
Blow: No, Lesbia, no, you ask in vain
Purcell: O dive custos Auriciae domus
Blow: An Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell
PERFORMERS
Iestyn Davies countertenor
James Hall countertenor
The King's Consort
Robert King director
The CD recording is available on the VIVAT label:
catalogue VIVAT 118
and also in high-resolution download from www.vivatmusic.com