English soprano Grace Davidson is a member of The Sixteen who has also appeared on film soundtrack recordings. Here she makes her solo orchestral debut with a logical program bound together by the fact that all the music is extremely virtuosic, and on top of that little-known. Particularly interesting is the Gloria, HWV deest, of Handel; the only reason this counterpart to Vivaldi's famed Gloria, RV 589, is not better known is that it was rediscovered only in 2001. Start your sampling with its opening movement to hear both ...
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English soprano Grace Davidson is a member of The Sixteen who has also appeared on film soundtrack recordings. Here she makes her solo orchestral debut with a logical program bound together by the fact that all the music is extremely virtuosic, and on top of that little-known. Particularly interesting is the Gloria, HWV deest, of Handel; the only reason this counterpart to Vivaldi's famed Gloria, RV 589, is not better known is that it was rediscovered only in 2001. Start your sampling with its opening movement to hear both the recording's strengths and its more questionable aspects. In the former column is the engineering, getting a nice, bright clarity from the All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London. And likewise the music, so redolent of the competitive vocal atmosphere in which both Handel and Vivaldi worked. The venerable Academy of Ancient Music under Joseph Crouch is a good fit for Davidson here with its light, restrained affect. And it is easy to imagine Davidson in the small chapels for which...
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