Hyperion Records | Orpheus with his lute

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CDA67450

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: October 2003
St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: April 2004
Total duration: 65 minutes 14 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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'The Parley of Instruments, Rachel Brown, director Peter Holman and the Hyperion recording team all deserve applause' (Gramophone)

'With the programme arranged by play rather than chronology, creating an alluring stylistic variety within its 100-or-so-year span, and excellent sound, music for Shakespeare doesn't come much better than this' (BBC Music Magazine)

'I'm sure that if it wasn't for the pioneering series of recordings named The English Orpheus we would find ourselves less the richer for the discoveries this series has brought to our notions of English musical heritage' (The Organ)

'Programmed with Peter Holman's usual ingenuity and originality' (Goldberg Early Music Magazine)

The English Orpheus

Orpheus with his lute

Music for Shakespeare from Purcell to Arne

Catherine Bott (soprano), The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman (conductor)

		Overture to Titus Andronicus Jeremiah Clarke (1670-1707)
1		Part 1: Overture [2:59]
2		Part 2: Minuet [1:29]
3		Take, O take those lips away [1:54] John Weldon (1676-1736)
4		Can life be a blessing? [2:05] John Eccles (1668-1735)
5		Pardon, goddess of the night [3:55] Thomas Chilcot (c1700-1766)
6		Orpheus with his lute [2:54] Maurice Greene (1696-1755)
7		Orpheus with his lute [6:25] Thomas Chilcot (c1700-1766)
8		Hark, hark, the lark [3:18] Thomas Chilcot (c1700-1766)
9		To fair Fidele's grassy tomb [4:01] Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
		Concerto No 9 in E minor Robert Woodcock (1690-1728)
10		Movement 1: Vivace [1:46] Rachel Brown (flute)
11		Movement 2: Largo [1:56] Rachel Brown (flute)
12		Movement 3: Allegro [1:58] Rachel Brown (flute)
13		When daisies pied and violets blue [2:26] Richard Leveridge (1670/1-1758)
14		When daisies pied and violets blue [3:20] Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
15		When icicles hang on the wall [3:16] Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
16		You spotted snakes [2:15] John Christopher Smith (1712-1795)
17		Full fathom five [3:29] John Christopher Smith (1712-1795)
18		All fancy sick [4:57] Willem De Fesch (1687-?1757)
19		Dry those eyes which are o'erflowing [4:14] John Weldon (1676-1736)
20		Dear pretty youth [1:37] Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
21		Honour, riches, marriage-blessing [2:51] Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
22		Where the bee sucks, there lurk I [2:09] Thomas Arne (1710-1778)

This fiftieth release in Hyperion’s glorious ‘English Orpheus’ series takes us on a Shakespearean Odyssey through Titus Andronicus, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, Much Ado about Nothing, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. Pride of place, of course, goes to Thomas Arne’s immortal settings, but the disc additionally explores some remarkable songs by his predecessors and contemporaries.