Hyperion Records

'A flower of a song, a daisy' says Capell, and so it is. This little serenade owes much to Don Giovanni's 'Deh, vieni alla finestra' but we have the sound of the lute in lieu of the mandoline. It is a miracle that there is so much in this song: the excitement and trepidation (the way the vocal line climbs high to an F sharp suggests this), the intrigue, the flickering of the lamp in the window, the way that the breezes, moonlight and scent of flowers seem to insinuate themselves into the picture like a lover slipping through a door left discreetly ajar, and not least the delighted points-scoring against the jealous neighbours. The singer must be playing the lute himself, but he addresses it charmingly as if, like Sparky's Magic Piano, it has a life and will of its own.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1990