Cheap Music For Queen Mary-A Celebration Of The Life And Death Of Queen Mary (Music) (John Blow, Thomas Morley, James Paisible, Henry Purcell, Thomas Tollett, Martin Neary, Michael Chance, New London Consort, Westminster Abbey Choir, Stephen Le Prevost) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Music For Queen Mary-A Celebration Of The Life And Death Of Queen Mary

Joy and sadness perfectly combined
This CD is subtitled "A Celebration of the Life and Death of Queen Mary" and it thus divides into two sections. To begin with, we hear a number of works written for the Queen during her life, among which are short songs by John Blow (including "The sullen years are past" which has never been recorded before) and a massive setting of one of many odes for the royal birthday celebrations by Henry Purcell - "Now does the glorious day appear," which is a sweeping and powerful work with a variety of ground bass arias, duets, recitatives, choruses and orchestral symphonies - all making for a fine and rewarding listening experience.

In the second section, the focus moves onto music written during the mourning period after Queen Mary's death. Purcell continues to prove himself the greatest composer of the time, in his semi-sacred songs (in Latin) mourning her death, and in the music he wrote for her funeral. This section is indeed a highlight of the disc as it attempts, in a very scholarly way, to recreate the funeral in the Abbey as it might have sounded in 1695, with the Funeral Sentences by Thomas Morley interspersed with Purcell's own material and a number of Farewell Marches for trumpets and drums only.

The members of the Abbey Choir under Martin Neary do an admirable job of stepping into the shoes of their forebears under Purcell; accompanied by the period instrument-equipped New London Consort, the sound is truly magnificent. In addition, a number of prestigious soloists appear, including Emma Kirkby and Ian Bostridge (undoubtedly key performers for capturing the purity and delicacy of this music), Michael Chance (who seems a little under-utilised), Stephen Richardson (a rich and profound bass voice if ever I heard one) along with members of the Abbey Choir itself. Of special note- one does not often find a choral CD on which all three senior musical officials at the cathedral (Organist, Assistant Organist and Organ Scholar) are heard playing, but this is one such recording: Martin Baker and Stephen Le Prevost fill in organ continuo parts in various places, as does Dr Neary himself (who also plays the harpsichord for most of the solo pieces).

Arc of Light have done it again- a recording of extreme loveliness, going right down to the packaging which features some beautiful artistry (in fact, the main cover photograph is given an explanation in the booklet notes owing to the special way in which it was produced). A true gem in all respects.

Good music, okay performances
This disc presents a somewhat eclectic collection of music devoted to Queen Mary (mostly by Purcell, but by some other contemporaries as well). Despite the common theme I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the pieces didn't "click." Neither did the soloists sound at ease. Michael Chance, perhaps, deserves the most praise. But alas, some of the pieces that he normally sings (e.g. Incassum Lesbia) were given to sopranos, who couldn't do them nearly as much justice. The voice of one of the sopranos kept cracking up (don't know which one: the past-her-prime Emma Kirkby or whoever-she-is Evelyn Tubb). Ian Bostridge is undeniably a great performer, mainly known for his brilliant lieder interpretations. I don't want to say that baroque is not his cup of tea because he is vocally well suited to this repertory. Yet I didn't think he was as great in Purcell as many of his countrymen, such as John Mark Ainsley, Charles Daniels or Mark Padmore (to the extent one recording is enough of a basis to judge, which perhaps it is not). I don't want to be unfair, but I've heard Purcell performed better. This is not a bad recording, just not the best.