This Italian release features an international cast of singers, not a one of them English, in an unusual look at the music of Henry Purcell, who, despite his early death, has left a great deal of music that remains to be explored. Under examination here is a repertory that annotator Dinko Fabris characterizes with the barely extant word "intimist": it is household music, in which Fabris and the performers rightly emphasize the unusual quality of not having a strong barrier between sacred and secular. Thus you get genuine ...
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This Italian release features an international cast of singers, not a one of them English, in an unusual look at the music of Henry Purcell, who, despite his early death, has left a great deal of music that remains to be explored. Under examination here is a repertory that annotator Dinko Fabris characterizes with the barely extant word "intimist": it is household music, in which Fabris and the performers rightly emphasize the unusual quality of not having a strong barrier between sacred and secular. Thus you get genuine songs by Purcell, some of which might have had theatrical origins, but which would have been used by amateur performers in a British noble home, along with sacred songs accompanied by organ continuo, little keyboard and lute pieces, and three works by other composers. This last group may be unusual in a recording titled merely Purcell, but it makes sense in the overall context. The result is a quiet Purcell program that has many small pleasures. What you'll think of it may depend...
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