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Iestyn Davies & Ensemble Guadagni

Buxtehude, Purcell, Blow and Handel

About this CD

Within a year of recording this CD at his first solo recital at Wigmore Hall, Iestyn Davies went onto receive the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artists award. The concert also represented his first collaboration with Ensemble Guadagni, comprising some of the UK's finest period instrument specialists.

The recital opens with a triumphant cantata by Buxtehude and, in John Blow’s As on his deathbed gasping Strephon lay, includes a piece with satirical overtones - celebrating the final repentance of the Earl of Rochester, a famous libertine. By contrast, Handel’s Nine German Arias’ were written in the 1720s to poems expressing “Earthly delight in God” by the composer’s old friend Barthold Heinrich Brockes.

When Davies sang in Handel’s Partenope at the New York City Opera, the New York Times described him as “The vocal star of the night … He sang with a luminous, creamy countertenor”.

Performers

• Iestyn Davies countertenor
• Ensemble Guadagni

Track Listing

1. Buxtehude Jubilate Domino BuxWV64 08.41

2. Purcell Gentle Shepherds, you that know - ‘A Pastoral Elegy on the Death of Mr. John Playford’ Z464 05.52

3. Blow As on his deathbed gasping Strephon lay - ‘A Pastoral Elegy on the Earl of Rochester’ 03.37

4. Purcell What a sad fate is mine Z428a 03.28

Handel Nine German Arias 49.48
5. Kühft’ger Zeiten eitler Kummer HWV202 06.41
6. Die ihr aus dunkeln Grüften HWV208 04.56
7. Süsse Stille, sanfte Quelle HWV205 05.20
8. Süsser Blumen Ambraflocken HWV204 06.55
9. Das zitternde Glänzen der spielenden Wellen HWV203 05.15
10. Singe, Seele, Gott zum Preise HWV206 04.43
11. Meine Seele hört im Sehen HWV207 05.39
12. In den angenehmen Büschen HWV209 03.35
13. Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden HWV210 05.48

Encore

14. announcement 00.10
15. Purcell An Evening Hymn - ‘Now that the sun hath veiled his light’ 04.51

Reviews

"...this is the first CD on which he performs an entire solo programme and it is a pure delight" Daily Telegraph - Read the full review

"...another triumph for Wigmore Hall Live" (5*) BBC Music Magazine

Product Details

• Total time: 76.46
• Cat. Number: WHLIVE0038
• Recorded: 6 June 2009